EU climate change policies[fr][de] 

There is growing scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that its main cause is the emission of greenhouse gases from human activity. The ten warmest years on record all occured after 1991. Since the beginning of the 90s, climate change has moved up high on the international and European political agenda. Generally, there is a political consensus that global average temperatures should not exceed 2°C above pre-industrial level.

For an easy introduction to the science behind climate change and the international responses to it, read UNEP's "Beginner's Guide to the UN Framework Convention and its Kyoto Protocol ".

International milestones:

• May 1992: the United Nations adopts the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC );
• December 1997: governments adopt the Kyoto Protocol which puts in place lgeally-binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and creates three "flexible mechanisms " to help lower the costs of reducing emissions: the "Clean Development Mechanism", "Joint Implementation" and "Emissions Trading";
• March 2001: President George W. Bush withdraws the United States from the Kyoto Treaty, saying it would be detrimental to the American economy;
• February 2005: the Kyoto Protocol enters into force.

European Policy developments:

In the context of the Kyoto Protocol, the EU committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 8% below "base year" 1990 levels before 2012.

• June 2000: launch of European Climate Change Programme (ECCP);
• January 2005: start of the EU's greenhouse gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS )
• October 2005: launch of second European Climate Change Programme (ECCP II )
• 10 Jan 2007:  Commission presents its "energy-climate change package " and a new Communication "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius The way ahead for 2020 and beyond ". The Commission proposes to reduce GHG emissions unilaterally by 20% by 2020 (compared to 1990).

For a comprehensive overview of what individual countries have delivered in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, see the UNFCCC's document "Changes in GHG emissions from 1990 to 2004 for Annex I Parties " (Oct. 2006).

• EU Kyoto commitments barely on track:

Since the end-90s, the EU has committed itself to play a global leadership role as regards the fight against global warming. After the American government decided to withdraw from Kyoto, the EU used all its diplomatic power to keep other countries (esp. Russia) to their word and succeeded in getting enough countries to sign. On the other hand, its own Lisbon priorities (competitiveness, jobs and economic growth) prevented the Union from making climate change policy really one of its main concerns. The fact that climate change is still seen as an environmental issue (and therefore dealt with by DG Environment) is significant. 

The EU-15 member states have a hard time delivering their own Kyoto commitments. The new member states (EU-10) are below their Kyoto targets but this is more due to the restructuring of their economies; in the last few years their emissions are also rising again.

• The European Climate Change Programmes (ECCP): 

The first ECCP was launched in 2000. It is a stakeholder structure under which the Commission debates with industries and NGOs and prepares new cost-effective measures to fight climate change. ECCP identified and implemented around 30 measures: eg. the emission trading scheme, the "linking directive", the directive on the promotion of electricity from renewables or the voluntary agreement with car producers to reduce CO2 emissions from cars. 

ECCP II started in 2005. It will review what has been achieved with ECCP and focus furthermore on carbon capture and storage, inclusion of the transport sector into the ETS and adaptation policies.

• Costs and benefits:

There are large uncertainties and debates over the costs and potential benefits of mitigating climate change. It is therefore necessary to find the most cost-effective solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  

The most extensive study on the costs of climate change mitigation, the UK's 2006 Stern Report , estimated that the cost of action can be limited to 1% of global GDP each year.

On 27 October 2006, the European Environment Agency warned that, with existing measures, only two EU-15 countries (Sweden and UK) would reach their reduction targets. With these existing policies only, the EU-15 is on track to reach only a 0.6% reduction by 2010. Additional policies and measures in the context of the Kyoto flexible mechanisms and actions related to carbon sinks, will be needed to reach the 8% reduction goal by 2012.

European industry has expressed worries that the EU's climate change policy might undermine its competitive position in the world economy. It has, on several occasions, criticised the EU's "going-it alone" strategy and has underlined the need for global solutions.

Green NGOs, on the other hand, think that EU policies do not go far enough. In a joint position paper for the start of ECCP II, CAn Europe, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF demanded a thorough review of the first ECCP and more ambitious targets and policies.