Doubt cast on EU climate-change goals

19/06/2007 | Bron: EurActiv

Greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 0.8% in 2005, according to an annual report by the European Environment Agency (EEA). While the Commission welcomed the decrease and called for more action, environmental groups saw the modest figure as a sign that the EU is not likely to achieve the emission-reduction targets agreed in Kyoto in 1992.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called the 0.8% reduction "very encouraging", since the EU's GDP grew by 1.8% during the same period as the emission cuts were achieved. But Dimas added: "It is clear that many member states need to accelerate their efforts to limit emissions significantly if the EU is to meet its Kyoto target."

The overall emissions reduction appears to be largely the work of a handful of member states, notably Finland, Romania, the Netherlands and Germany. Finland led the way with a 14.6% reduction, with Romania achieving 4% and the Netherlands and Germany achieving 2.9% and 2.3% respectively.

Other member states, however, actually increased GHG emissions over the same period by a considerable margin. In Spain, emissions increased by 3.6%, due in large part to reduced river levels for hydro power stations and an increased use of fossil- fuel power stations.

In its evaluation of the figures, environmental group Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE) focused on the performance of the EU-15 states with respect to their Kyoto target of bringing annual emissions to an average 8% below 1990 levels in 2008-2012. FoE points out that the overall 0.8% decrease in the EU-27 translates into a mere 1.5% reduction for EU-15 compared to 1990 levels. In order for the EU to meet its Kyoto target, the EU-15 states would have had to reduce emissions by 6% in 2005, more than three times the actual reduction achieved, the group said.

The Commission argues that "structural changes in how we produce and use energy" are key to stepping up efforts to reach Kyoto targets.

German Christian Democrat MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz, rapporteur for Parliament's new temporary committee on climate change, has similarly stated that the EU is "on the verge of an industrial revolution. For example, there might be small-scale wind turbines for every family home. These are the kind of things we need to promote."

The idea of creating an entirely new "eco industrial policy", rather than simply reducing emissions in exisiting industries, is also the subject of 2006 report by Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, presented at an informal ministerial meeting in Essen, Germany on 1-3 June.