No Kyoto targets

Most of the EU's member states will have a hard time reaching their 2012 Kyoto targets designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, writes Helena Spongenberg. Malta has not set any targets yet:

..The European Environment Agency on Friday (27 October) came out with its annual projection of CO2 emissions in the European bloc. "Today's projection...shows that emissions trends are not as positive as we might wish them to be," EU commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told reporters in Brussels. Brussels still believes the EU can meet its target if all planned measures and legislation are put into place, but the spokeswoman added that "we need to make a major effort if we want to reach those targets."

The so-called EU-15 countries have committed to reducing total emissions of greenhouse gases to 8 percent below their level in 1990 in the period between 2008 and 2012. The new EU countries which became members in 2004 are not subject to the collective emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, which was set down in 1997. But eight of the ten new member states - the EU-10 - have individual targets to cut their emissions to 6 or 8 percent below 1990 levels. Cyprus and Malta have no targets at all, while all those with targets project that they will meet them...