Brussels - EU leaders refused on Friday to put a figure on aid for developing nations to cut greenhouse gases, saying they wanted to wait to see what the United States, China and others have to offer.
The European Commission had mooted €30-billion but no figure was agreed at a two-day summit that ended on Friday, with the EU not keen to show its hand before other major polluters had outlined theirs.
"We are talking about between €320-billion and €340-billion euros as the EU's participation," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after the talks.
But there was no agreement on how to divide the bill up.
Tusk, whose country relies on heavily polluting coal for much of its energy needs, stressed that "we think that the simplistic 'polluter pays' mechanism is unacceptable," he said.
Pressure is mounting ahead of global climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen in December.
"We have, before taking a formal decision on our side, to ask other developed countries also to come with us (so that) the US, Japan and many other contributors also signal what will be their position," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
It would be "premature" for Europe to name a figure now, he said, adding that such a decision would be made some time between June and the Copenhagen conference.
That position was expressed by several of the leaders behind closed doors, according to sources.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted on the fundamental role of the US and the need to find out the intentions of President Barack Obama, they said.
In their summit declaration, the 27 EU heads of state and government stressed that the bloc "remains committed to playing a leading role in bringing about a global and comprehensive climate agreement in Copenhagen," with the overall goal to limit global warming to two degrees centigrade.
A G8 meeting scheduled to take place on an Italian island off Sardinia in July would be a key moment for the talks, with countries like the US, China and India participating, said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
That meeting has itself raised concern in the European Commission over the amount of environmentally unfriendly preparation work involved.
The European leaders' message was slammed by environmental groups.
"The EU is waiting for Godot," said Greenpeace EU climate and energy policy director Joris den Blanken.
"Developing nations are going to think twice about joining a global climate agreement without concrete financial commitments from rich countries."
The EU leaders "spent most of their time discussing multi-billion euro responses to the financial and economic crises and did not commit a single cent of the money Europe must contribute to international efforts to deal with global warming," complained Friends of the Earth.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected the accusation that the EU was falling away from its environmental goals.
"Far from backsliding, the European Union is going into the last line run before the Copenhagen summit stronger and stronger in the offer it is making," he said in Brussels.
"President Obama's shift in the US means that the debate is changing quite fast," he added.
EU nations have committed to ambitious environmental goals by 2020 that aim to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 percent, make 20 percent energy efficiencies and increase the use of renewable energy sources to 20 percent of the total.