Press Release: Climate change: More effort needed to reverse EU’s greenhouse gases emission trends

According to the European Commission greenhouse gas emissions from the EU-15 member states rose by 0.3% between 2003 and 2004. Despite this rise, EU-15 emissions stood 0.9% lower than in the base year (mostly 1990) even though the EU-15 recorded economic growth of 32% over the same period. Nevertheless greater efforts were needed to reduce EU-15 emissions to 8% below base year levels for the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period (2008-2012). The forthcoming national allocations of emission allowances for 2008-2012 under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme were seen as a crucial tool for ensuring member states achieve their Kyoto targets. EU-25 emissions, for which there was no collective Kyoto target, rose by 0.4% from 2003 to 2004 but were still 7.3% below base year levels.