6 Climate change: progress report on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions
| (26256)
5117/05
COM(04) 818
| Commission Report: "Catching up with the Community's Kyoto target"
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 20 December 2004
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 12 January 2005
|
| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 24 January 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
6.1 In order to meet the environmental challenges presented by
global warming, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires industrialised countries to return
their emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2000 to the levels
obtaining in 1990. However, at their first meeting, the Parties
to the Convention recognised that further action was needed beyond
2000, and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol set legally binding emission
targets for industrialised countries to meet by 2012. The Community
has undertaken to reduce its 1990 emission levels by 8% by the
period 2008-2012, with reductions by individual Member States
being apportioned under the Burden Sharing Agreement (see Annex
6.1).
The current document
6.2 This document is the fifth progress report from the Commission
assessing the progress of Member States and the Community as a
whole towards their Kyoto targets, and the first report since
the adoption by the Council of a Decision establishing a new mechanism
for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing
the Kyoto Protocol.[16]
Also for the first time, the report assesses the progress of the
EU-25, since all Member States have ratified the Kyoto Protocol,
with only Cyprus and Malta not having emissions reductions targets,
and with most[17] of
the ten new Member States having committed themselves to reducing
their greenhouse gas emissions by 8% from base-year level in the
first commitment period (2008-2012). However, the report also
continues to highlight developments in the EU-15 because of the
collective target and the burden-sharing agreement.
6.3 The report contains emissions data on actual
greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2002, and projections
(both with existing measures and with additional measures) to
2010, based on information provided by Member States, including
the additional policies and measures they are introducing in this
area. It also includes more detailed information on the use of
the flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, such as Joint
Implementation, the Clean Development Mechanism and international
emissions trading. Furthermore, some data on land use, land-use
change and forestry are reported.
6.4 The report's main findings are that, in 2002,
greenhouse gas emissions of the EU-25 were 9% lower than the base
year. This reduction is, however, due mainly to the decline in
emissions in most of the new Member States in the early 1990s,
and emissions from the EU-15 were only 2.9% below the base year
(though they were 0.5% lower than in 2001, following two successive
increases). Based on a linear reduction between the baseline year
and the Kyoto target, the UK was 7.4% below its 2002 target and
14.9% below the 1990 level, but performance among Member States
generally remains variable, with only France, Germany and Sweden
of the other EU-15 Member States being on track to achieve their
commitments under the burden-sharing agreement.
6.5 The report also says that, on the basis of existing
measures quantified in Member States' projections, the EU-15 would
still be 7% short of its target, but that, with additional policies
and measures, it will in 2010 have decreased emissions by 8.6%
below 1990 levels, and thus exceed its collective Kyoto target.
It also points out that the various projections do not yet include
some important new measures, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme,
the effects of which are expected to be felt within the next two
years (though this will only be reflected in the 2006 emission
inventory, which will be published in the 2008 monitoring report).
6.6 The report notes that, at Community level, significant
progress has been made over the past year with the adoption and
implementation of a number of key common and coordinated policies
and measures arising from the European Climate Change Programme
(ECCP) launched 2000. These include:
- a Directive linking project-based
mechanisms to greenhouse gas emission trading;
- a Council Decision for monitoring
Community greenhouse gas emissions;
- a Directive on the promotion
of cogeneration;
- a draft regulation on fluorinated
gases;
- a draft framework directive
on eco-efficiency requirements for energy-using products;
- a draft Directive on energy
end-use efficiency and energy services; and
- an assessment of the National
Allocation Plans under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
6.7 In addition to assessing Member States' performances,
the report also considers individual greenhouse gases. It notes
that carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 0.3% from 2001 to 2002,
but were still above 1990 levels, with the transport sector showing
a continuous increase throughout the period for which data are
available since 1990, and still growing (reaching in 2002 21%
above the 1990 level for the EU-15). It points out that energy
industries (mainly combustion for electricity and heat production
but also refineries) are the largest contributor to carbon dioxide
emissions, and that, at the same time, the share of combined heat
and power generation remains static at 10%. The share of renewable
energy sources dropped from 15.2% in 2001 to 13.6% in 2002, mainly
caused by the reduction in large-scale hydropower generation.
The Government's view
6.8 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 24 January 2005,
the Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment) at the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Elliot
Morley) says that the Community and the UK have taken a leading
role in calling for action to tackle climate change. In particular,
the UK's climate change programme, published in November 2000
(and currently under review), sets out how the UK plans to meet
its Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% below
1990 levels over the period 2008-2012, and move towards its more
challenging domestic goal of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide
emissions by 2010. Additionally, the Energy White Paper published
in 2003 announced a goal of putting the UK on a path to cut carbon
dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. UK emissions of the basket of
six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol fell by 14.9%
between the base year and 2002, the last year for which published
data are available.
6.9 The Minister says that the UK therefore welcomes
the report as a useful signpost of the progress being made, and
of the further action which will be needed if the Community is
to meet its Kyoto target. It is, however, concerned that all Member
States should meet their targets, and that the Community should
not rely on over-compliance by some Member States in order to
meet its overall target. It, therefore, believes that the report
will increase the pressure on those Member States in danger of
missing their targets to take action.
Conclusion
6.10 This is an essentially factual report, which
we are clearing. It does nevertheless contain interesting information
about the progress to date of the Community and its Member States
in meeting their targets under the 1992 Framework Convention,
and more especially the prospects for achieving the targets for
2008-2012 agreed in the Kyoto Protocol. We also note that information
is provided for the first time on the situation in the new Member
States.
ANNEX 6.1
Member States commitments under the
Communitys Burden-Sharing Agreement
(percentage changes for 2008-2012 relative
to 1990 emission levels)
Austria |
-13
|
Belgium |
-7.5
|
Denmark |
-21
|
Finland |
0
|
France |
0
|
Germany |
-21
|
Greece |
+25
|
Ireland |
+13
|
Italy |
-6.5
|
Luxembourg |
-28
|
Netherlands |
-6
|
Portugal |
+27
|
Spain |
+15
|
Sweden |
+4
|
UK |
-12.5
|
16
280/2004/EC. Back
17
The exceptions are Hungary and Poland, which intend to reduce
their emissions by 6%. Back
|
