EU members on track to meet Kyoto targets

BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- European Union members who signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions reduction are on track to meet their commitments, projections indicate.

The latest European Environment Agency projections indicate 14 of the EU's 15 members at the time the Kyoto Protocol was enacted will reduce their emissions from six greenhouse gasses by 8 percent from 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 period, EUobserver.com reported Friday.

France, Germany, Greece, Sweden and the United Kingdom already have brought domestic emissions below their targets, the agency's data show.

Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain met their targets through offsetting their emissions, the agency said. However, environment groups note carbon offsets only allow people to pollute as long as they pay others to make up the difference.

Only Austria was projected not to meet its target commitment, the agency said.

Results are based on member countries' own projections, EUobserver.com said.

"These projections further cement the EU's leadership in delivering on our international commitments to combat climate change," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said from his headquarters in Brussels.

Combined with the union's climate and energy package adopted this year, the organization has put in place "key measures to reduce our emissions much further to at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020," Dimas said. "No other region of the world has yet done this."