Nov 12, 2009, 17:24 GMT
Brussels - Spain and Italy are the European Union's worst performers when it comes to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, new figures released by the European Commission on Thursday showed.
Embarrassingly, Denmark, which is due to host UN climate-change talks at the end of the year, is also likely to miss the reduction targets set by the Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change unless it buys credits for cuts which other countries have made.
But the EU as a whole is on track to hit the reduction targets set by the protocol because of a strong performance in heavyweights Britain, France and Germany, officials said.
'These projections further cement the EU's leadership in delivering on our international commitments to combat climate change. They show the EU's (rich members are) well on track to meet (their) Kyoto target,' EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.
According to the European Commission's annual report for 2007, the latest year for which figures exist, Italy's emissions topped 550 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2, the main greenhouse gas), 6.9 per cent more than they were in 1990.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Italy was meant to cut its emissions to 482 million tons by 2012, 6.5 per cent below the 1990 figure - leaving it the challenge of cutting emissions by over 10 per cent in the next three years if it is to meet its commitments.
In the same way, Kyoto allowed Spain - in the 1990s one of the EU's most backward economies - to boost its emissions by 15 per cent.
But the country's subsequent economic boom, based largely on massive property development, pushed emissions up by a staggering 52.6 per cent.
That means that Spain will have to trim emissions by a quarter over the next three years if it is to hit the Kyoto target.
Denmark has cut its emissions by almost 4 per cent since 1990, but its Kyoto target is for a 21-per-cent cut, leaving it with an uphill struggle to hit the mark.
The commission report acknowledged that the three countries will only be able to hit their Kyoto targets if they buy large numbers of emissions-reduction credits from countries which have already hit their targets - effectively paying them for cutting emissions.
Together, the trio could need up to 190 million tons' worth of credits, with an estimated market value of 1.9 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars).
Austria, Finland and Ireland will also have to invest heavily into emissions credits to hit their Kyoto targets.
However, at the other end of the scale, the EU's heavyweights, Britain, France and Germany, have all smashed through their Kyoto targets already. Together, they account for around 40 per cent of all EU emissions, meaning that their good performance has a major effect on the EU's overall average.
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