The EU should cut greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, by 40 percent by 2030, the European Commission said Wednesday, disappointing environmentalists but getting a cautious welcome from industry groups.

Member states should also ensure that renewables account for 27 percent of their energy, it said, unveiling its 2030 climate change package to replace a 2020 programme.

The 2020 package set a binding greenhouse gas reduction target of 20 percent, when compared with 1990 levels, coupled with 20 percent each for renewables and an energy efficiency gain.

No figure was given for the expected 2030 increase in energy efficiency and this will continue to be worked on.

The Commission, the EU's executive arm, also issued what it called "minimum principles" of best practice on shale gas 'fracking,' a process widely condemned by green groups as harmful to the environment.

Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said the package would keep the European Union on track towards a low-carbon economy while ensuring it did not lose out to competitors, as many critics claim it will.

"Climate action is central for the future of our planet, while a truly European energy policy is key for our competitiveness," Barroso said.

"Today's package proves that tackling the two issues simultaneously is not contradictory but mutually reinforcing," he said in a statement.

Green groups condemn climate sell-out

Greenpeace, reflecting a widespread environmentalist view, condemned the package as a "sell-out" to vested interests.

The 40 percent reduction target "is insufficient for the EU to deliver its fair share of global emission reductions required to keep global warming within safe levels," Greenpeace EU head Mahi Sideridou said.

Sideridou said that in practice, the target could be just 33 percent if the EU's Emissions Trading System, its failing market for greenhouse gas pollution credits, is not fixed.

To do just that, the Commission proposed an ETS reserve fund which from 2021 could hold back up to 12 percent of the pollution credits and so help support prices.

Very low ETS prices mean companies are content to go on buying the credits which allow them to pollute because they are a much cheaper option than the investment in new technology the system is supposed to encourage.

Industry groups were positive overall but wanted the Commission to make sure EU firms were not stuck with tough targets while competitors such as China and India got off lightly.

Business Europe said it the package showed the Commission now "acknowledges the challenge of high energy prices in the EU."

However, the greenhouse gas reduction target was only "realistic if a binding international climate agreement can be concluded in 2015" at the UN climate conference in Paris.

"Therefore we urge (the EU) ... to make sure that Europe will not be once again a lone frontrunner without followers."

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said the package was a "positive signal for a meaningful 2015 agreement," which envisages setting a global warming limit of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

The 2030 targets set by the Commission have to be approved by all 28 member states to enter into law and its recommendations come amid sharp differences over priorities as the EU struggles to get back on a growth path.

Some, led by Britain, insist member states must be allowed to decide how best to adjust their energy mix in the face of increasing global competition.

Thanks to the shale gas revolution, US gas prices, for example, are just one third those in Europe.

Meanwhile Germany, which is closing down its nuclear power plants, wanted renewables to be given greater prominence with a binding 30 percent target so that its EU peers would have to make the same commitment on them.

The 27 percent renewables target is binding at the overall EU level of 28 states, not at the national level, meaning how it works in practice will have to be settled in what are likely to be tough talks.

The Commission recommendations will be discussed by EU leaders at a March summit and then go into a long process of negotiations with Parliament and member states before they can become law.