On November 12th, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) released a new report revealing that the EU as a whole and all individual member states, except Austria, are on track to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emission trends in Europe are, on the whole, encouraging, but developments in transport emissions are worrisome. In 2008, for the fourth consecutive year, emissions in the EU decreased to reach their lowest level since 1990. Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU?27 now represent 11-12 % of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The original 15 EU member states that first signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, will succeed in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 13% by 2012, their goal was originally set at 8%. The Kyoto Protocol also established individual targets for those 15 EU member states. New members, except for Cyprus and Malta, also have individual targets to meet. Meanwhile, the enlarged EU-27 has committed to reducing its emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, as a part of the EU's "20-20-20" by 2020 Climate Change Package agreement.
Five EU?15 and nine EU?12 Member States (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom), and Croatia have already achieved GHG emission levels below their Kyoto targets. Austria is the only one of these countries currently projected to see its GHG emissions increase by 12.9% on its commitments for 2008-2012. The EU?27 is also on the right track, having reduced domestic greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 10.7 % between 1990 and 2008.
In 2009, the progress of EU?15 Member States towards their targets was assessed, for the first time, by focusing on projections of their non-ETS emissions, meaning emissions outside the Emission Trading Scheme (including road and sea transport, buildings, services, agriculture and smaller industrial installations), which currently account for about 60% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. In the future, new indicators, with a focus on these non-ETS emissions, will be used to track the annual progress of Member States towards their targets.
Even if this data is very encouraging, large emission reductions occurred due to the economic downturn affecting Member States; important structural measures still need to be implemented. These measures need to be implemented at the global level as well, since European contribution could be just a drop of water in the ocean of GHG emissions, which is by definition a global problem.
There are only a few days left until the Copenhagen United Nation Climate Change Conference, and many issues are still open to enable the achievement of something more than a political agreement, which is important but not sufficient.
The establishment of a global emissions market (and global carbon pricing) is still an open issue, as is the definition of technological and financial cooperative instruments, to help developing countries becoming "greener".
Last, but most importantly, the willingness of the largest-emitting countries to commit on this occasion to binding quantitative limits.
The USA's Waxman-Markey Energy law (that includes a cap and trade system) was passed only with a thin majority by the House of Representatives, and still needs to be passed by the Senate. This means that the USA should not be in the position to accept quantitative GHG emissions limitations. However, President Obama surprisingly announced (on November 25th) that the USA would pledge a 17% cut in emissions from 2005 (very different from1990) levels by 2020, 30% by 2025, 42% by 2030 and 83% by 2050.
The following day, the Chinese State Council announced that they intend to cut carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
These can be considered as positive signals in a scenario that was becoming more and more pessimistic.
Solving these issues is key in order for Europe to not be alone in the global fight against climate change, and the avoidance of carbon leakage.
The original 15 EU member states that first signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, will succeed in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 13% by 2012, their goal was originally set at 8%. The Kyoto Protocol also established individual targets for those 15 EU member states. New members, except for Cyprus and Malta, also have individual targets to meet. Meanwhile, the enlarged EU-27 has committed to reducing its emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, as a part of the EU's "20-20-20" by 2020 Climate Change Package agreement.
Five EU?15 and nine EU?12 Member States (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom), and Croatia have already achieved GHG emission levels below their Kyoto targets. Austria is the only one of these countries currently projected to see its GHG emissions increase by 12.9% on its commitments for 2008-2012. The EU?27 is also on the right track, having reduced domestic greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 10.7 % between 1990 and 2008.
In 2009, the progress of EU?15 Member States towards their targets was assessed, for the first time, by focusing on projections of their non-ETS emissions, meaning emissions outside the Emission Trading Scheme (including road and sea transport, buildings, services, agriculture and smaller industrial installations), which currently account for about 60% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. In the future, new indicators, with a focus on these non-ETS emissions, will be used to track the annual progress of Member States towards their targets.
Even if this data is very encouraging, large emission reductions occurred due to the economic downturn affecting Member States; important structural measures still need to be implemented. These measures need to be implemented at the global level as well, since European contribution could be just a drop of water in the ocean of GHG emissions, which is by definition a global problem.
There are only a few days left until the Copenhagen United Nation Climate Change Conference, and many issues are still open to enable the achievement of something more than a political agreement, which is important but not sufficient.
The establishment of a global emissions market (and global carbon pricing) is still an open issue, as is the definition of technological and financial cooperative instruments, to help developing countries becoming "greener".
Last, but most importantly, the willingness of the largest-emitting countries to commit on this occasion to binding quantitative limits.
The USA's Waxman-Markey Energy law (that includes a cap and trade system) was passed only with a thin majority by the House of Representatives, and still needs to be passed by the Senate. This means that the USA should not be in the position to accept quantitative GHG emissions limitations. However, President Obama surprisingly announced (on November 25th) that the USA would pledge a 17% cut in emissions from 2005 (very different from1990) levels by 2020, 30% by 2025, 42% by 2030 and 83% by 2050.
The following day, the Chinese State Council announced that they intend to cut carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
These can be considered as positive signals in a scenario that was becoming more and more pessimistic.
Solving these issues is key in order for Europe to not be alone in the global fight against climate change, and the avoidance of carbon leakage.
