Stavros Dimas

Back when the Kyoto Protocol was signed, there were 15 member nations of the European Union, and this EU 15 (as they are known on the street) had agreed in said protocol to cut emissions by 8 percent from 1990 levels in the measurement period of 2008-2012, when the Protocol expires. Makes sense? Good. Well, how are the EU 15 doing on their pledge? Reuters says that, overall, not too shabby.

The 15 EU countries…are on track to cut emissions to 6.9 percent below 1990 by the 2008-2012 measurement period, short of their 8 percent goal, but offsetting will take them to a cut of around 9 percent…Further measures such as reforestation programs will take them to around 13 percent.

So while emissions themselves are still a little higher than hoped, offsets combined with more importantly (in my mind, at least) reforestation are actually boosting the EU 15 far above the Kyoto targets. In addition, even in the face of flagging hopes for a strong agreement at the Copenhagen Conference intended to create a treaty to replace Kyoto, European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas stated that he still believes that there is much progress that can be made, stating “I expect we are going to have a significant agreement in Copenhagen. There is too much pessimism around.” He even called for rich countries to reach for a combined reduction of emissions by 30 percent by 2020. Wait. Does that sentence make sense? You know what I mean.

It’s good to see one leader still calling for Copenhagen to produce firm results. Many leaders (United States, India, China, Australia, etc.) have scaled back expectations, but maybe - maybe - one leader pushing forward can make progress. We can hope.

photo credit: Greenweek2009’s flickr photostream/Creative Commons