EU leaders have the opportunity to re-stake their claim to being climate leaders by agreeing on an ambitious EU negotiating position when they meet at this week's EU summit.

With progress at the UN climate talks 'painfully slow' and hopes for a deal at Copenhagen having almost evaporated, a bold move by the EU could reinvigorate the negotiation process ahead of the next meeting in Barcelona.

Last week's meetings of EU environment and finance ministers, which considered the EU negotiating position for Copenhagen, did not inspire much optimism.

As always, drafts of the EU summit conclusions are already doing the rounds, long before EU leaders arrive in Brussels. Unfortunately, these drafts do little to indicate a bold move by the EU is on the horizon.

The drafts include a 'copy and paste' of the two-and-a-half year old statement to increase the EU's emissions target to a 30% reduction by 2020 (from 1990 levels) if other industrialised countries commit to 'comparable' reductions. This hazy (non-) commitment no longer cuts the mustard. A number of industrialised countries, like Norway and Japan, now have 'comparably' more ambitious reductions - based on a fair model for sharing emissions reductions efforts.

If Europe's leaders truly want the EU to play a proactive role in pushing forward the UN climate talks, they must now commit to an unequivocal and non-conditional reduction target of 30%, with a promise to go beyond this. The EU goal is to limit global warming to below 2ºC - this would require a domestic reduction target of 40% by 2020 for the EU to play its fair share as part of a UN climate deal. While long term targets are welcome, it is the 2020 targets that are now relevant.

To be consistent the EU position should also insist that it will not be possible to 'bank' surplus assigned amount units (AAUs) from the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol (2008-12). The banking of surplus AAUs (also known as 'hot air') could seriously undermine the emissions reduction targets of industrialised countries, leading to statistical reductions instead of actual reductions post-2012.

Clearly, the other crucial issue for the UN climate talks is climate financing. The dogs on the street now know that new and additional financing from industrialised countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries will be essential for sealing a deal in Copenhagen in December. Despite having promised to outline one by March, the EU still has no position.

The draft conclusions do not include a clear commitment on the level of public finance for climate change to be provided by the EU. They do recognise the proposals made by the European Commission last month, however (as we noted) these were seriously underestimated. On top of this, it seems many EU countries want to just repackage existing overseas development aid for climate change adaptation - this would be a slap in the face to developing countries.

The EU needs to show leadership on climate financing. This means adopting a position along the lines outlined in a resolution adopted by the European Parliament environment committee last week: providing at least €30bn per annum (by 2020), while specifying that this funding should be new, guaranteed and additional to existing overseas development aid, and not dependent on annual budgetary procedures in EU member states.

One positive in the draft conclusions is the proposal for 'fast start' climate financing in developing countries of €5-7 billion per year. Hopefully this remains in the final draft.

There are other issues on which a strong and clear EU position would also be welcome. For example, a commitment to phase-out Clean Development Mechanism projects from non-LDC countries, or clearly ruling out the inclusion of REDD (reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) from carbon markets and a commitment to fund REDD through public financing.

One final important area is the issue of supposed 'carbon leakage' under the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS), which is also on the agenda. The European Commission has already unfortunately come out with a flawed proposal on the sectors to benefit from exemptions under the ETS. The Greens are working to try and oppose this proposal in the European Parliament (read more). It is regrettable that the European Council is interfering at all in implementing measures under co-decision legislation. If they persist, it is important for EU leaders to ensure - at the very least - that this proposal can be reviewed following an international climate agreement. Failure to do so would send all the wrong signals to Copenhagen.

The EU still can reclaim its climate leadership role but it is now or never time for EU leaders to do so