EU leaders have committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low carbon economy. The EU has set itself targets for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions progressively up to 2050 and is working successfully towards meeting them.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the 15 countries that were EU members before 2004 ('EU-15') committed to reducing their collective emissions to 8% below 1990 levels by the years
2008-2012. The latest emissions monitoring and projections show that the
EU-15 is on track to over-achieve this target. Most Member States that have joined the EU since 2004 also have Kyoto reduction targets of 6% or 8% (5% in Croatia's case) which they are also on course to achieve.
For
2020, the EU has committed to cutting its emissions to 20% below 1990 levels. This commitment is one of the headline targets of the
Europe 2020 growth strategy and is being implemented through a
package of binding legislation. The EU has offered to increase its emissions reduction to 30% by 2020 if other major emitting countries in the developed and developing worlds commit to undertake their fair share of a global emissions reduction effort.
In the
climate and energy policy framework for 2030, the European Commission proposes that the EU set itself a target of reducing emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
For
2050, EU leaders have endorsed the objective of reducing Europe's greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels as part of efforts by developed countries as a group to reduce their emissions by a similar degree. The European Commission has published a
roadmap for building the low-carbon European economy that this will require.
