1 December 2005
The European Union said it will cut gas emissions blamed for global warming more than planned over the next seven years, as environmental policies such as limits on factory air pollution show results.
The Kyoto Protocol requires the 15 nations that were EU members before enlargement last year to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 8 percent in 2008-2012 compared with 1990. The EU today said emissions by the group of 15 countries would be 9.3 percent lower by 2010.
``We have already reduced our emissions despite healthy economic growth,'' EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement released in Brussels. ``That does not mean we can be complacent.''
The EU this year imposed limits on releases of carbon dioxide -- the most common greenhouse gas -- by 11,400 power plants and factories owned by companies such as utility E.ON AG and steelmaker Corus Group Plc. Companies that exceed their limits must buy permits from businesses that emit less or pay a penalty, creating an incentive to cut pollution.
In addition to the emissions-trading system, Europe is counting on credits allowed under Kyoto for energy-efficient projects in developing countries as well as on a range of EU and national environmental policies to help achieve the reduction targets.
The emissions-trading system also includes the 10 mainly eastern European nations that joined the EU in May 2004. The 25- nation EU will cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 11 percent by 2010, according to the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm.
Upbeat Forecasts
The upbeat forecasts contrast with the commission's reaction in June to data on EU greenhouse-gas emissions in 2003, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available.
EU emissions rose in 2003 as energy companies used more coal for electricity production, leaving the bloc further from its Kyoto reduction goal compared with 2002, the European Environment Agency said on June 21.
Emissions by the group 15 old member states were 1.7 percent below the 1990 levels in 2003 after being 2.9 percent below them the year before, said the Copenhagen-based EEA.
``These figures are disappointing,'' Dimas said at the time.
To contact the reporter on this story:Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at [email protected]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aMCox81SNkwM&refer=europe
