2/12/2005
EU on Track to Reach Kyoto Targets

The EU is well on its way to achieve its Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases concluded a European Commission report issued this week. The report will be submitted to the UN climate convention now meeting in Montreal, Canada.

Latest projections from member states indicate that a combination of existing policies and measures, additional initiatives already in an advanced state of planning, and credits gained through the protocol’s mechanisms for promoting emission-saving projects in third countries will reduce combined EU-15 emissions to 9.3% below 1990 levels by 2010. This clearly fulfils the 8% reduction target from 1990 levels that the protocol requires. The projections show that EU-25 emissions would be cut by more than 11%. Seventeen member states with emission targets are currently projected to meet them, while the others are in the process of identifying further actions.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “The latest projections show that the EU has successfully transformed its commitment under Kyoto into policies and measures by which it will attain the emissions’ reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. And we have already reduced our emissions despite healthy economic growth. But that does not mean we can be complacent. We will need to fully implement the various emission reduction measures that we have signed up to under our climate change programme and make use of the Kyoto flexible mechanisms CDM and JI.” These are the mechanisms that allow for emission-reducing projects in other countries to be taken into account in calculating the European total.

By 2003 - the latest year for which complete data are available - greenhouse gas emissions had been reduced by 1.7% in the 15 'old' EU member states compared with base year levels while the economy had grown by 27%.