London (Platts)--14Jun2007

EU greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 decreased by 0.7% from the year
before, according to a report from the European Environment Agency Thursday,
though the decrease is still off the pace required to reach its Kyoto Protocol
reduction target by 2008-2012.
     In its annual inventory of GHG emissions submitted to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change as required by the protocol, the agency
reported that the EU's total 2005 emissions (excluding emissions from land
use, land-use change and forestry) were down 7.9% from 1990 levels.
     For the EU-15 member states, on the same basis, the total was 1.5% (65
million mt CO2 equivalent) below 1990, and 0.8% (35.2 million mt CO2e) below
2004 levels. The EEA reported that in 2005, 15 EU member states had emissions
above their 1990 baseline levels, while 12 had emissions below the 1990 level.
     The EEA said the overall reduction from 2004 was mainly due to lower CO2
emissions from district heat and power installations, particularly in Finland
and Germany (a reduction of 9.6 million mt CO2e); households and services (7
million mt CO2e); and road transport (6 million mt).
     The agency also noted cuts of 4 million mt CO2 equivalent in agricultural
nitrous oxide emissions, and 2.1 million mt CO2 equivalent in methane
emissions from solid waste disposal.
     At the same time, emissions grew from hydrofluorocarbon use in
refrigeration and air-conditioning (3.2 million mt CO2e); N2O emissions from
nitric acid production (2.1 million mt CO2e); petroleum refining (1.9 million
mt) and civil aviation (1.7 million mt CO2e).
     Expressed geographically, the EEA reported that Spain saw the greatest
increase in GHG emissions (15.4 million mt CO2e), while Germany reported the
largest reduction (23.5 million mt CO2e). Reductions were also reported from
Finland (11.9 million mt CO2e) and the Netherlands (6.3 million mt CO2e).
     Under Kyoto, the EU-27 states must cut collective GHG emissions to 92% of
their 1990 levels by 2008-2012.