EurActiv: EU leaders meeting in Brussels yesterday (11 December) closed in on an agreement that would give Europe’s big polluters more CO2 emission permits free of charge, as the bloc’s major economies slip further into economic recession. Background: In January 2008, the European Commission presented a series of proposals designed to transform into law the political commitments made by EU member states in March 2007 to reduce the EU’s emissions of CO2 and related greenhouse gases (GHGs) …