Europeans Not Walkin’ the Walk on Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The leading advocates of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Europeans, seem to be better at talking about reducing emissions than actually doing it according to the latest European Union projections for meeting the EU target for the original 15 members of an 8% reduction below 1990 levels. The Guardian reports that at the moment EU-15 countries are on course to achieve a mere 0.6% reduction below 1990 levels by 2010.

This lack of progress by the Europeans does not bode well for the fight to stave off serious climate change. The Europeans need to be able to tell the United States something to the effect that if we can do it you can do it. Also, advocates of emissions reductions in the United States will require all the ammunition they can get for countering the tactics of the powerful oil and coal industries which have such an influential role on government decision-making in Washington, DC.