The European Commission says that this week’s UN climate change conference in Cancun (Mexico) should work towards a legally binding agreement. Key parts of the current agreement on climate change, known as the Kyoto Protocol, expire after 2012 and there is also need for urgent action on the ground.

Last year’s international agreement at Copenhagen recognised the need to keep global temperatures below 2 C pre-industrial levels but several large countries are still reluctant to sign up to a binding framework.

The EU, the world’s leading aid donor, will give a full report in Cancun on its delivery of ‘fast start’ funding to support developing countries. Support to developing countries’ efforts to stop climate change is a key part of negotiations.

In 2010 the EU mobilised ‘fast start’ funding of Eur2.2 billion. This forms part of the EU’s overall commitment made last year to provide Eur7.2 billion over the period 2010-2012.

“The EU is ready to agree on an ambitious global climate framework in Cancun but regrettably some other major economies are not. Cancun can nevertheless take the world a significant step forward by agreeing on a balanced set of decisions covering many key issues,” explains Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action. “It is crucial that Cancun delivers this progress, otherwise the UN climate change process risks losing momentum and relevance, and so far no one has been able to point to an alternative forum that can deliver more. Therefore Cancun must deliver progress on substance, and it can, if all parties show political will.”

A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that large drop in emissions seen in 2008 and 2009 gives the EU-15 a head start to reach and even overachieve its 8% reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. Austria, Denmark and Italy, however, need to step up their current efforts until 2012 to ensure that their contribution to the common EU-15 target is delivered. The EEA report also shows that EU-27 is well on track towards achieving its 20 % reduction target by 2020.

The EEA report ‘Tracking progress towards Kyoto and 2020 targets’ presents an overview of the progress actually seen in 2008 (and 2009 where data are available) in European countries towards their respective targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Based on aggregated emission projections at EU level, the report also presents an assessment of projected progress of the EU-15 towards its 8% reduction commitment and of the EU-27 towards its 20% reduction target by 2020.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA.

“We cannot afford to wait until after the end of the Kyoto period to start implementing policies targeting sectors not covered by the EU ETS, such as transport and residential heating. These sectors are crucial for the EU targets set for 2020,” says Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA.

Based on their 2008 emission levels, almost all European countries with a Kyoto target were on track to meet their individual targets. However, three EU Member States (Austria, Denmark and Italy), two other EEA countries (Liechtenstein and Switzerland) and one EU candidate country (Croatia) need to step up their efforts before 2012 to be able to meet their targets.

The economic crisis largely contributed to the drop in total EU-27 greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 compared to 2008 (by 6.9 % according to EEA estimates), but its impact was felt less significantly in the sectors not included in the EU ETS (–3.3%) than in the sectors included (–11.7 %). Return to economic growth could temporarily level off or even reverse the decline in emissions, but the declining trend is expected to continue.