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Less greenhouse gases
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Everyday activities like switching on a light, boiling a kettle or driving a car produce greenhouse gas emissions which lead to global warming. By creating a barrier that traps the sun’s rays, emissions such as carbon dioxide cause the earth’s surface to heat up and ultimately affect the planet's climate. Major reductions in these emissions are needed to prevent global warming from reaching dangerous levels. The EU is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, and by 30% if a satisfactory international agreement is reached. |
Rising to challenges and seizing opportunities
The EU's main weapon in tackling climate change is the 2005 emission trading scheme. Countries can trade their emission allowances within the overall, European emission limit. The scheme (the first of its kind) allows countries to scale down their greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective way.
The scheme applies to all the EU countries, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. It currently covers 10 500 installations in the energy and industrial sectors, collectively responsible for 40% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The scope for making a difference is therefore huge.
The EU has extended the scheme to include more greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide (fertilisers) and perfluorocarbons (aluminium production), as well as all major industrial emitters such as power plants.
While the scheme itself is limited to certain sectors, the EU's policy also covers other important greenhouse gas-producing sectors like agriculture, buildings, waste and transport. Participating countries will each have a national target, so that the burden is shared.
While these measures will go a long way towards ensuring that the earth’s surface temperature does not rise more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, more action will be needed if the EU is to cut greenhouse gases by 50% by 2050. This is where carbon capture and underground storage come in.
The EU is promoting the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the gases discarded by industry and transporting and injecting it into geological formations. This would mitigate the effects of coal and gas production and also other CO2-intensive industries such as cement, iron, steel and petrochemicals.