Yahoo News 31 Aug 09;
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union fell for the fourth year running in 2008, thanks to the economic recession, the European Environment Agency (EAA) said Monday.
The official EEA estimates showed a 1.5 percent drop in emissions from the 27-nation European Union as a whole and a 1.3 percent drop from its 15 older and richer members.
"The vast majority of the decline in emissions in 2008 was due to lower CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the energy, industry and transport sectors," the environment agency said in a statement.
The reductions "reflect the effects of the global economic recession which began in 2008, which resulted in reduced industrial output and reduced energy consumption by industry, and correspondingly reduced freight transport," it added.
Nonetheless the European Commission welcomed the news as showing "further EU progress towards Kyoto targets," of reducing emissions in the 2008-2012 by eight percent from 1990 levels.
So far European Union nations have cut emissions by more than 10 percent altogether, according to the EAA estimates.
"These provisional figures are a further confirmation that the EU is well on track to reach its Kyoto target, even if one should recognise that part of the reduction in emissions is due to the economic slowdown." said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
"This trend needs to be further consolidated in the coming years," he added.
The EU had already shown it was capable of decoupling its emissions from economic growth, he said.
Dimas called the figures a timely message to the rest of the world in the run up to the international climate conference in Copenhagen December.
EU nations have set themselves the goal, independent of Kyoto, of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and are hoping to reach international agreement for even more ambitious cuts.
Recession helps EU cut 2008 CO2 emissions
Reuters 31 Aug 09;
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union emissions of global warming gases fell for a fourth straight year in 2008, mostly caused by lower industrial activity due to economic recession, EU data showed on Monday.
The main reasons for the reductions were lower carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the energy, industrial and transport sectors, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said.
For the 15 EU countries that have commitments to reduce CO2 emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, the EEA said emissions fell by 1.3 percent last year from 2007.
This reflected the "effects of the global economic recession which began in 2008, which resulted in reduced industrial output and reduced energy consumption by industry and correspondingly reduced freight transport," it said in a statement.
The EEA estimates are subject to confirmation in June 2010, and do not take into account the effects of changes in land use.
Emissions by the entire, 27-country bloc declined by 1.5 percent, the EEA said. There is no EU-27 emissions target under the Kyoto Protocol, since the 12 newer EU members, including ex-communist nations, did not sign up at the start.
Based on these estimates, European Union greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 came in at roughly 6.2 percent below Kyoto base-year emissions for the EU-15 and 10.7 percent below the 1990 level for the EU-27, the EEA statement said.
"These provisional figures are a further confirmation that the EU is well on track to reach its Kyoto target, even if one should recognize that part of the reduction in emissions is due to the economic slowdown," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.
"This trend needs to be further consolidated in the coming years," he said. "This is a timely message to the rest of the world in the run up to the Copenhagen climate conference in December," Dimas said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jeremy Smith)
