Recession brings EU closer to Kyoto climate targets

New European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates issued in August 2009 indicate that EU greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 2008 for the fourth consecutive year. Compared to the 2007 official emissions published earlier this year, the annual reduction is estimated to be about 1.3% for the EU-15 and 1.5% for the EU-27. Based on these estimates, the greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 stand approximately 6.2% below the Kyoto base-year emissions for the EU-15, and 10.7% below the 1990 level for the EU-27.