Environment

US Will Set Emissions Target But EU Unimpressed By Low Ambition

by Mike Smith

category: Carbon Emissions

Published November 24, 2009 @ 08:30AM PT

• 3301 Views

The US will announce a greenhouse gas reduction target before the Copenhagen conference. The target will likely be in line with legislation currently being considered by Congress. Whilst this announcement is far from being be a game-changer for the supposedly doomed talks, the fact that the US had not publicly disclosed a target was one of the biggest obstacles to making an agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference.

The number by which the US plans to cut its emissions by is likely to be around the 15-20% mark —a number similar to cuts the EU is shooting for. expect for one huge difference. The US is planing to cut emissions by 15-20% of recent levels, whilst the EU is pledging to cut based on 1990 levels — the conventional date from which the UN measures emission cuts. As a percentage of 1990 levels, US cuts would only represent a few percent decrease compared to the EU since emissions have risen so much since 1990.

The environment minister for the EU is demanding the US make more ambitious cuts: around 30% of 1990 levels. US progress is not inconsequential though: Saleemul Huq, a climate change specialist with the International Institute for Environment and Development, told the BBC that setting a target is "an extremely good signal that the Obama administration is willing to put a target forward and not wait for Congress." There is still Hope for Copenhagen.

Photo: rwhgould