The EU aims to coerce the US and the big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil into signing up to a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases.
European leaders in the 27-nation bloc have approved an ambitious climate change action plan which they hope will become a model for international negotiations. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said, "The problem is to know whether the others are ready to do what we have have been doing."
The European Commission unveiled a strategy for raising finance aimed at tackling climate change. The Commission recommends making polluters pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit. With a price starting at one euro per tonne rising gradually to three euros, the plan intends to generate about 13 billion euros in 2013, if used in the main developed countries, rising to 28 billion euros by 2020.
With four billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the EU generates 14% of the 27 billion tonnes that escape into the atmosphere each year. The US is the biggest polluter with 5.8 billion tonnes, followed by China with 5.1 billion tonnes.
The EU hopes it can rally the other major polluters behind its approach.
Mr Barroso believes the most important issue is to have the Americans on board. New US President Barack Obama has raised hopes that he will be more receptive to Europe's strategy than his predecessor, by declaring in his inaugural address that the US will "roll back the spectre of a warming planet."
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