The European Union’s 15 original member nations are on target to meet Kyoto treaty commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the bloc’s environment agency said. The countries pledged by 2012 to reduce by 8 percent their emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases thought to contribute to global warming.
Only three countries — Denmark, Italy and Spain — were “off their Kyoto track” and unlikely to meet individual targets, the European Environment Agency said.
But their shortfalls would be made up by Britain, Germany and Sweden, which were expected to show “outstanding performance,” according to agency’s executive director, Jacqueline McGlade.
The 15 were the only nations in the European Union in 1997, when it joined the Kyoto Protocol under an “EU burden-sharing agreement.” The 12 nations that have since joined the bloc are not obliged to help meet its Kyoto targets.
– from sfgate