Brussels, 07/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Despite a 2.4 % increase in emissions in 2010, the European Union is still on track to achieve its Kyoto Protocol target of an 8% collective reduction for the 2008-12 period, compared with reference year 1990. This latest analysis of greenhouse gas trends in the EU was published by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) on Friday 7 October in three reports which together analyse emissions levels since 1990 and look forward to the EU's greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2020 and beyond.
The 2010 increase follows a significant 7% drop in 2009, which can be put down largely to the economic recession. “We were expecting this. But Europe is still on track. The EU continued decoupling emissions from GDP during the recession. Between 2008 and 2009, emissions fell by 7.1% in the EU-27, much more than the around 4% contraction in GDP. However, last year's estimated 2.4% rise in emissions shows that we need to continue the decoupling process”, said Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard at a press conference in Brussels on how climate change is viewed by EU citizens (see preceding article).
According to initial EEA estimates, EU-15 emissions were 10.7 % below base-year (1990) levels, still well below its collective 8 % reduction target for the 2008-12 period. However, there is a cloud on the horizon: Austria, Italy and Luxembourg are still lagging behind the Kyoto Protocol targets assigned them as part of the collective load among member states.
These three will have to make greater efforts, either by further reducing emissions or by relying more on the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms (whether the clean development mechanism through investment in developing countries or joint implementation of targets through investment in countries undergoing the transition to market economies).
The EEA believes that measures in sectors not covered by the EU ETS, for example, in the transport, residential or waste sectors, will be of particular importance for meeting national targets for 2020 set under the EU's 2009 climate and energy package.
Consolidated 2010 emission data will be published in May 2012, with the submission of the EU greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). (AN/transl.rt)