Further action needed to reach EU climate change target, projections show

EEA study suggests that EU GHG emissions from the waste sector are projected to decrease by about 60 per cent between 1990 and 2010 on the basis of both existing and additional measures. This cut would be mainly due to implementation of the EU directive on landfilling of waste.



Policy measures taken so far by European Union countries to curb emissions of greenhouse gases fall well short of enabling the EU to meet its obligations under the Kyoto climate change protocol, latest projections show. But additional measures under discussion, if fully implemented, as well as use of emissions trading or other instruments could still ensure that the EU complies with its target.



Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU is required to cut its combined emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases (GHGs) to an average of 8 per cent below 1990 levels in the years 2008 to 2012.



A “burden-sharing” agreement between the 15 EU Member States has imposed legally binding limits on how much each can emit within this overall target. The latest projections provided by Member States show that existing policies and measures – those already being implemented at domestic or European level – will yield a total EU emissions cut of 4.7 per cent by 2010. This is 3.3 percentage points short of the Kyoto requirement.



“Existing measures will not be sufficient for the EU to reach its Kyoto target,” concludes a report on the projections prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change. The accuracy of the projections is subject to uncertainties over the methodologies used and whether existing or planned measures will be fully implemented.



Most of the projected 4.7 per cent decrease from existing measures would be due to Germany, Sweden and the UK cutting emissions by more than they are required to do under the burden-sharing deal – something which cannot be taken for granted. If these three countries merely met their burden-sharing targets instead of “over-complying”, the overall EU emissions decrease by 2010 would be minimal at only around 0.6 per cent. Based on policies and measures implemented so far, all of the 12 other Member States are projected to have emissions in 2010 above their burden-sharing targets.



EU GHG emissions from the waste sector are projected to decrease by about 60 per cent between 1990 and 2010 on the basis of both existing and additional measures. This cut would be mainly due to implementation of the EU directive on landfilling of waste.



The full report and a summary are posted on the EEA website at:



http://reports.eea.eu.int/report_2002_1205_091750