Just a quick roundup of the first U.S.-EU meeting on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development in Helsinki the last two days. There's s a joint press release from the EU Environment DG and the U.S. Mission to the EU here. Like most EU press releases it sounds good but does it actually say anything concrete?

The EU and U.S. delegations agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation including to

* Promote the commercial deployment of Clean coal and carbon sequestration technologies, including through the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum;

* Promote energy efficiency, particularly in the transportation sector and for buildings and appliances;

* Enhance methane recovery including through the Methane-to-Markets Partnership;

* Research, develop and deploy second-generation biofuels;

* Overcome barriers to the use of renewable energy sources and biofuels, including through the development of international standards;

* Address global biodiversity loss through natural resource conservation and other joint efforts; and

* Enhance energy access for sustainable development


Still, not much word of anything on Kyoto. Meanwhile Europe is speeding ahead in carbon emissions trading developments even if European car makers are missing the mark.

There is very limited blog coverage on this, but do check out Biopact.