(23 May 08) Global temperature rises should be kept well below the European Union's target of 2 degrees Celsius to avoid costly damage to people and their lifestyles, according to a European Parliament report.

European consumers must be given better information about the "carbon footprint" of goods they buy, including products imported from outside the 27-nation bloc, it added.

The European Union has said that any warming of the climate by more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels would be a dangerous change, bringing more damaging heatwaves, storms, coastal flooding and water shortages.

EU leaders have adopted ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one-fifth by 2020 from 1990 levels to combat global warming.

But the report by German conservative Karl-Heinz Florenz, to be debated by EU lawmakers ahead of a vote on Wednesday, seeks to go further.

"All efforts to curb emissions should in fact aim at staying well below the 2 degrees target, as such a level of warming would already heavily impact on our society and individual lifestyles," Florenz wrote.

23 May 08: EU report calls for faster climate change curbs