Sweden criticized the Copenhagen climate change summit as a "disaster" and a "great failure," expressing disappointment that the European Union did not achieve their goals of cutting carbon emissions. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren stated that the EU environment ministers would meet to discuss how to move forward after the disappointing outcome in Copenhagen. Carlgren, who currently holds the EU presidency, emphasized the need to learn from the failure and explore alternative approaches to address climate change. The two-week-long U.N.-led conference concluded on Saturday with a non-binding agreement to cap global warming at a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but did not outline a plan on how to achieve this goal. Despite extensive preparation and international diplomacy efforts, the main obstacle to reaching a consensus was the inability of the United States and China, the world's top two emitters, to agree on specific targets. The European Union, consisting of 27 member states, entered the negotiations with a united front and a proposal to finance emissions reductions in developing countries, committing to spend approximately 7 billion euros over the next three years. However, these objectives were overshadowed as the talks did not result in the anticipated breakthrough agreement. According to Carlgren, "Europe remained focused and united throughout the negotiations, but the lack of willingness from other countries, particularly the United States and China, was a major hindrance." Britain accused China and a few other countries of obstructing a legally binding treaty at Copenhagen, increasing the blame game that has been ongoing since the talks concluded. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the summit "flawed" and demanded immediate reform of the process to reach a legal treaty when negotiations resume in Germany in June. Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard, who stepped down as president of the Copenhagen talks amid criticism from African nations, emphasized the need to focus on progress rather than getting discouraged about addressing climate change. She stated that it would have been a failure if no progress had been made at Copenhagen. We managed to accomplish something significant - a first step. This marked the first occasion where all countries, including major polluters, participated in the process.