Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel will call on U.S. lawmakers to step up efforts to fight climate change when she speaks to Congress next week, adding pressure as leaders gear up for a make-or-break United Nations summit.

Merkel will speak jointly to the House of Representatives and Senate on Nov. 3, carrying with her the European Union’s goal of a 30 percent reduction of air pollution blamed for global warming by rich nations as a whole. She said she’ll tell Congress it’s time to join a campaign the EU began years ago.

“We just can’t do it all by ourselves,” Merkel told reporters after an EU summit meeting today in Brussels. “We’ve set the agenda with everything.”

The EU is urging wealthy economies to commit to reductions in greenhouse gases by 2020 under any new UN treaty to counter the heat waves, storms and floods tied to global warming. The UN aims at a December meeting in Copenhagen for an agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.

The Senate threatens to undermine President Barack Obama’s push for a deal in Copenhagen because it may not pass a climate bill before the two-week meeting is scheduled to begin on Dec. 7. The House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this year.

Even as EU leaders today failed to approve climate aid for the developing world as poorer nations within its own bloc balked at the costs, Merkel stressed the EU’s more robust position on climate compared with the U.S.

“I will make statements on climate change that aren’t different from what we’ve talked about today,” Merkel said.

While the EU is on course to cut greenhouse gases by a fifth in 2020 compared with 1990, congressional draft legislation would reduce U.S. emissions about 5 percent over that period. The EU has said it’s willing to deepen its reduction target to 30 percent over the period provided other wealthy economies follow suit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Brussels at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 30, 2009 12:00 EDT