The EU and Kyoto Protocol: Achievements and Future Challenges

This article assesses the European Union's positive performance in achieving its own Kyoto Protocol target, differently from the other Annex I countries. The analysis highlights a quite heterogeneous situation across Member States. The simultaneous contribution of both the EU Emission Trading System and the financial crisis have made EU compliance with the Kyoto commitment uncertain. Nevertheless, the last Conference of Parties has shown that EU is willing to lead future strategy to deal with climate change even though new international agreements may be either at risk or ineffective in environmental terms.