The UK is one of five European Union countries to have already met their targets for reducing emissions below the levels required to be met by 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol.

 

The European Environment Agency said that the European Union as a whole and all Member States bar one are on track to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments to limit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

 

In a report issued on 12 November, the EEA said that the five countries would not need to rely on buying extra carbon offsets from abroad assuming that they manage to keep their emissions below their burden-sharing targets or further reduce them.

 

The Kyoto Protocol, established in 1997, commits a number of industrialised nations to bring down their emissions from a 1990 baseline. The 15 European countries that were EU members in 1997 jointly committed to an 8% reduction.

 

The graphs shows how the 15 EU members have performed relative to their targets (in percentage points) where negative numbers are emissions below target and positive numbers show emissions above target.

 

The COP15 Copenhagen website hailed the five countries as 'carbon heroes. 'Britain, France, Germany, Greece and Sweden can all claim the title of climate’s heroes,' it said. Only Austria expects to fall short of its commitment under current conditions and will have to intensify its efforts to reduce emissions.

 

Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA's Executive Director, said: 'It is encouraging that Europe’s climate-changing emissions are expected to continue decreasing, outperforming the objectives set by the Kyoto Protocol.'

 

'Such an accomplishment should encourage all countries to agree on much larger reductions of global emissions, sealing a global deal in Copenhagen this December.’

 

These projections have started to factor in the recent economic downturn, but even so, emissions of greenhouse gases 'may still be overstated in the short term,' the agency said. 'As such, the recession could bring about further cuts in emissions.'

 

The EEA said that reductions between 2008 and 2012 will be achieved through a combination of existing and additional policies; the purchase by governments of credits from emission-reducing projects outside the EU; the trading of emission allowances by participants in the EU emission trading scheme (EU ETS); and forestry activities that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.