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European Union leaders face heated negotiations today on a deal to toughen emission-reduction policies in the next decade and boost the security of energy supplies amid a natural-gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

The main challenge for the 28 heads of government will be to iron out differences on a strategy that ensures cheaper and safer energy while stepping up climate-protection measures. The agenda of the two-day Brussels summit, the final one to be chaired by EU President Herman Van Rompuy, also features a debate on the European economy and on measures to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

Countries including Poland, Portugal, Spain, France and the U.K. have signaled that the outstanding issues that leaders will need to resolve at the gathering include sharing the burden of carbon cuts, the nature of energy targets and plans for power and gas interconnectors.

It will not be easy to reach an accord, many countries have energy problems, and some have re-opened coal mines, French energy minister Segolene Royale told lawmakers in Paris yesterday. But I think we will have the wisdom, the strength, and the sense of responsibility to reach an accord.

EU leaders plan to back a binding target to cut greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, accelerating the pace of reduction from 20 percent set for 2020, according to draft conclusions for the meeting obtained by Bloomberg News. An agreement would ensure the bloc remains the leader in the fight against global warming before a United Nations climate summit in Lima in December and a worldwide deal expected to be clinched in 2015 in Paris, according to the European Commission, the EUs executive arm.

While differences among member states on the carbon target are narrowing down, leaders still need to resolve issues including emissions burden-sharing, which pits richer countries in western Europe against mostly ex-communist east and central European nations led by Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has threatened to veto the planned EU deal unless it addresses her countrys concerns, including the risk of a surge in electricity prices. The biggest economy in central Europe wants assurances that its utilities will get some free carbon permits under the EU emissions trading system, or ETS, after 2020 and that the country will have access to funds for modernizing coal-based plants.

To pave the way for a compromise, the EU plans to renew a special carbon-permit reserve -- which yielded 2.2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for renewable energy and carbon-capture projects over the past four years -- and extend its size and scope after 2020. It also aims to create a new fund, which would include between 1 percent and 2 percent of ETS allowances, to help finance investment in low-income member states, according to the draft conclusions.

The ETS, Europes key emission-reduction tool, imposes carbon dioxide limits on about 12,000 installations owned by manufacturers and utilities. Under the draft deal, emissions under the cap-and-trade program would fall by 43 percent by 2030 and discharges by sectors that it doesnt cover, such as agriculture, would decrease by 30 percent from 2005 levels.

A stormy debate is also expected today on two other elements of the draft 2030 energy and climate package: an EU-wide goal to boost the share of renewable energy by 27 percent and an indicative target to increase energy efficiency by 30 percent. While a group of countries led by Germany favors binding measures to reduce consumption of energy, the U.K. opposes it and may agree to an indicative goal only, according to two EU diplomats with knowledge of the matter.

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EU Braces for Battle to Set Energy Goals for Next Decade