In the first commitment period of the Protocol (2008-2012), participating countries committed to reduce their emissions by an average of 5% below 1990 levels.
The EU and its member countries – 15 at the time the legislation was adopted (the ‘EU-15’) – went beyond this and committed to an 8% cut for the Union as a whole.
National targets under Kyoto 1
As the Protocol allowed groups of countries to meet their targets jointly, the EU’s overall 8% reduction was broken down into legally binding national targets, also known as quantified emission limitations or reduction commitments (QELRCs). These targets were tailored to the relative wealth of each Member State at the time, under the “burden sharing” agreement, included in the decision approving the Kyoto Protocol (Decision 2002/358/EC).
The QELRCs were expressed as percentages of emissions in a chosen base year and translated into an exact national cap on greenhouse emissions (expressed in tonnes of CO2-equivalent) for the whole 2008-2012 period.
Similar individual targets were set for countries that joined the EU after the Protocol was adopted – except for Cyprus and Malta, which were not assigned targets.
EU reductions achieved under Kyoto 1
The EU and its Member States met their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period (2008-2012).
For the whole period, the total emissions of the EU Member States (without Cyprus and Malta, which had no targets) were 23.5 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent. This is equivalent to a reduction of around 19% below the base year in the period 2008-2012 domestically, without counting the additional reductions coming from carbon sinks (LULUCF) and international credits.
The EU-15 achieved an overall cut of 11.7% domestically, without counting the additional reductions coming from carbon sinks (LULUCF) and international credits.
Detailed targets below
EU-15-8%Bulgaria-8%Austria-13%Croatia-5%Belgium-7.5%Czech Republic-8%Denmark-21%Estonia-8%Finland0%Hungary-6%France0%Latvia-8%Germany-21%Lithuania-8%Greece+25%Poland-6%Ireland+13%Romania-8%Italy-6.5%Slovakia-8%Luxembourg-28%Slovenia-8%Netherlands-6% Portugal+27%CyprusN/ASpain+15%MaltaN/ASweden+4% United Kingdom-12.5%
Base years for each greenhouse gasCarbon dioxide (CO2)Methane (CH4)Nitrous oxide (N2O)
1990 – except:
Bulgaria – 1988Hungary – average of 1985-7Slovenia – 1986Poland –1988Romania – 1989
Fluorinated gases
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)perfluorocarbons (PFCs)sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
1995 – except:
Austria, Croatia, France, Italy, Slovakia – 1990
Total GHG emissions from sources included in Annex A to the Kyoto ProtocolEU-1518,822,263,095Bulgaria132,618,658Austria79,049,657Croatia31,321,790Belgium145,728,763Czech Republic194,248,218Denmark69,978,070Estonia42,622,312Finland710,03,509Hungary115,397,149France563,925,328Latvia25,909,159Germany1,232,429,543Lithuania49,414,386Greece106,987,169Poland563,442,774Ireland55,607,836Romania278,225,022Italy516,850,887Slovakia72,050,764Luxembourg13,167,499Slovenia20,354,042Netherlands213,034,498 Portugal60,147,642 Spain289,773,205 Sweden72,151,646 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland779,904,144
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