European Union leaders have reached an agreement on an offer to present at the global climate talks in Copenhagen in December, following a resolution of disagreements on how to divide the costs. According to leaders at an EU summit in Brussels, developing countries will require 100 billion euros ($148 billion) annually by 2020 to combat climate change. A portion of this amount, estimated to be between 22-50 billion euros, will be funded by public funds in wealthy countries worldwide, with the EU contributing a share. It is anticipated that the EU's contribution will fall within the range of 20 to 30 percent. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed optimism that this development will be viewed as a significant step forward in reaching a Copenhagen agreement. East European nations stated that the summit resolved a disagreement on how to divide the EU's bill in a manner that would not harm their economies as they rebound from crisis. The Polish minister for Europe, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, regarded this as a triumph for Poland, expressing a desire for rapid development and not wanting to be seen as a mere relic of Eastern European folklore. While leaders did not reach a specific agreement on how to split the bill, they assigned this task to a new working group. "Ideally, I would like for this burden-sharing mechanism to be prepared now, but unfortunately, it proved to be too challenging," stated Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The two-day summit successfully obtained a complex negotiating mandate for the Copenhagen talks, which aim to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, a United Nations initiative to combat climate change that will expire in 2012. The success of these talks is likely to depend on financial support. Developing countries insist that they will not commit to addressing climate change without sufficient funding from wealthier nations, which have primarily contributed to environmental damage by relying on oil and coal for their industries over the years. Such funding could be used by developing countries to improve their agriculture or access new water sources in areas affected by drought. The European leaders have delayed previous plans to provide "fast start" funding for developing countries in the three years leading up to a new climate agreement. Oxfam, an anti-poverty organization, criticized Europe's proposal as inadequate and lacking assurances that the money would not be taken from existing aid commitments. Oxfam's Elise Ford warned that if wealthy countries divert funds from aid budgets to pay for climate issues, it will have a negative impact on efforts to combat poverty. The opposition to a deal from eastern European countries decreased following Sweden's intervention in the issue of "hot air," which refers to the surplus carbon permits held by eastern European countries. These countries, along with Russia and Ukraine, have spare permits for around 9 billion tonnes of carbon emissions due to economic collapse after the end of communist rule. The additional permits, referred to as AAUs, can be traded to major polluters like Japan for approximately 10 euros per ton. Eastern European nations are in favor of continuing to sell AAUs in the new agreement replacing Kyoto. However, countries like Germany argue that this practice undermines the agreement's integrity and are pushing to eliminate them as they reduce the incentive to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Sweden secured support from eastern Europe for the overall agreement by delaying any significant action on AAUs, according to an EU diplomat. The agreement also includes commitments to reduce domestic emissions, with a promise to increase cuts to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if other countries follow suit.