Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo on Monday said ''strong choices'' needed to be made in the fight against climate change that would take account of the global economic crisis.
Speaking in Warsaw at an informal United Nations meeting for environment ministers, Prestigiacomo said ''a financial crisis without precedent'' had interrupted the global strategy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an increase in alternative energy sources.
''Even if the financial crisis does not put the climate change emergency in second place, it's clear that the reduction of financial resources available at a global level reduces the possibility of investments in the world energy system towards a low-carbon economy,'' she said.
Prestigiacomo, who was speaking to 24 other environment ministers in preparation for a major UN climate change conference in Poland in December, called for ''a shared evaluation'' of strategies necessary to deal with climate change in light of the economic crisis.
The minister's comments echoed those of Foreign Minister Franco Frattini earlier on Monday, who asked the European Union for an ''evaluation of the impact'' measures in a EU package to stop climate change will have on industry and the economy.
The EU is committed to cutting emissions from 1990 levels by 20% by 2020.
He said EU objectives for greenhouse gas emissions had to be ''flexible'' in order to ''aid development and relaunch the economy''.
The climate change package will be among issues discussed by EU heads of state at a meeting in Brussels later this week.
