Households and offices have been heralded as the main contributors to a fall in EU greenhouse gas emissions in 2006, in a move that could provide some succour to politicians and businesses keen to point to the success of carbon reduction strategies.
According to new figures this week from the European Environment Agency (EEA), emissions from the original 15 EU members fell 0.9 per cent between 2005 and 2006 to 3.94bn tonnes. During the same period emissions from the whole bloc fell 0.3 per cent and now stand 7.4 per cent below 1990 levels.
The preliminary figures suggest households and offices were the main contributors to the emission reductions, with France, Italy and the UK boasting the biggest savings in this sector.
The EEA noted that a mild winter may have contributed to lower energy consumption in homes and offices, but also observed that emissions from electricity and heat production across the EU-27actually increased fractionally, suggesting this may not have had a huge role in energy use.
"Politicians from all levels will be happy to say green policies and behavioural change are beginning to kick in," said EEA spokesman Òscar Romero Sanchez. "Although other factors like the slowing economy and mild winter may also have played a role in the emissions reductions."
He added that the EEA is working "flat out" to deliver a full analysis of the figures in a report due in late May or early June.
The EEA welcomed the figures, but warned cuts in emissions would have to accelerate significantly if the EU is to have any chance of hitting its target of reducing emissions by 20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020. "We are currently just 7.4 per cent below the base year level," observed Romero Sanchez. "We are well past the mid-point and still need to reduce emissions by 12.6 percentage points – there is a long way to go."
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