Environment: Climate change - the Kyoto protocol

The December 1997 meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol adopted there have given new impetus to EU action on global warming. Discussions are centering on how the EU's commitment under the Protocol can be achieved in practice.
The EU signed the Kyoto Protocol on 29 April 1998 and will ratify it at a later date once a number of outstanding issues have been resolved, particularly the operation of flexible mechanisms such as emissions trading, joint implementation and clean development. The EU is stressing that although these mechanisms are important, a ceiling should be placed on their use as domestic action should be the major means of achieving the commitments made under the Protocol. The Protocol will enter into force only after ratification by 55 parties representing at least 55% of the total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions from industrial countries - probably in the year 2000 at the earliest.
The EU's commitment under the Protocol is to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 8% from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. This is different from the "burden sharing" arrangement agreed by Member States in March 1997: a 15% reduction in emissions of three greenhouse gases by 2010 from the 1990 baseline. The Council of Ministers discussed the EU's strategy on climate change at the March 1998 Environment Council meeting and negotiations concerning the contributions to be made by individual Member States will continue in June 1998. Some Member States would like to reduce their emission targets whilst others are under pressure to take on more challenging targets. The allocation of these targets is also complicated by the possibility of an emissions trading system. The agreed strategy will form the basis of the EC's negotiating position at the next Conference of the Parties meeting in Buenos Aires during November 1998.
A wide variety of measures will be used to meet these targets and the Commission has recently published two communications setting out the action that could be taken to reduce emissions from transport and to improve energy efficiency.
The Commission estimates that emissions of carbon dioxide from the transport sector will increase by 40% from the 1990 baseline by 2010 if there is no change in policy. "Transport and Carbon Dioxide - Developing an EU Approach" proposes to halve this growth by increasing the fuel economy of passenger cars, improving the integration of freight and passenger transport, promoting fair and efficient transport pricing and completing the internal market in rail transport.
Meanwhile, a saving of up to 18% of 1995 energy consumption could be made by 2010 if the measures in the Communication "Energy Efficiency in the EU" are implemented. Priority would be given to improving energy efficiency in the building sector which accounts for over 40% of all energy use, extending the energy labelling of appliances and equipment, negotiating voluntary agreements with the manufacturing sector and improving demand management by the energy utilities.