Stockholm - Environmental experts warned the European Union Thursday against setting their sights too low in tackling climate change as EU energy ministers began two days of informal talks in northern Sweden.

The warning came as energy ministers began meeting in Are, 630 kilometres north-west of Stockholm, under the chairmanship of Swedish Energy and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson.

In an op-ed article in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, two leading climate experts warned the ministers about setting targets for emission cuts which were too low.

"To suggest that there is scientific support that climate warming can be stabilized at 2 degrees by emission reductions of 50 per cent by 2050 is to lull humanity into false security," the heads of the European Environment Agency and the Stockholm Environment Institute wrote.

"Our research suggests that the target for 2050 should be to reduce global emissions to as close as zero as possible," Copenhagen- based EEA Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade and Johan Rockstrom of SEI said.

The two cited findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that in 2007 called for global emission cuts of 80-90 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

On Friday, EU environment ministers were to take part in a joint session with the energy ministers. The environment ministers continue their talks separately until Saturday.

The meetings were to focus on eco-efficient economy and the possiblilities of creating new job opportunities in a low-carbon economy, Olofsson said.

Her Swedish cabinet colleague, Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, aims to coordinate EU positions in pushing for an international agreement on reducing greenhouse gases at a summit in Copenhagen in December, replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Sweden on July 1 assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc. (dpa)