However, to achieve the 2020 target the EU’s impact on carbon dioxide reductions via new policies would have to increase by a factor of almost five, it added. For the wider GHG mix the required reduction impact is needed to increase by a factor of three, the agency concluded.
The new legislative package on energy and climate in Europe is to be presented in the coming months.
The study evaluated and quantified the impact of environmental policies on the emissions of the six GHGs under the Protocol over 1990-2005, excluding the contribution of large-scale hydropower in the renewables mix. Hydropower, though, will have contributed to the actual benefit and increasingly will do so.
The year of 2005 was taken as a reference as it is the halfway mark in the 30-year period between the start in 1990 and the target year of 2020.
The estimated 7% emissions reduction equates to approximately 370M tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and is calculated as being due explicitly to the effect of environmental policies in EU.
The agency estimates that a reduction of at least 1100M tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent will be needed as a direct consequence of policies over 2006-2020.
