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Climate Action

Kyoto 2nd commitment period (2013–20)

This period bridges the gap between the end of the 1st Kyoto period and the start of the new global agreement in 2020.

In this period, the EU, some other European countries and Australia have agreed to make further emissions cuts.

For their part, the EU countries (together with Iceland) have agreed to meet – jointly – a 20% reduction target compared to 1990 (in line with the EU's own target of 20% by 2020). They are on track to do so.

How is the 20% target shared?

This joint 20% commitment is shared between these 29 countries and the EU, broadly along the lines of current commitments in each sector of the economy:

How will the target be reached?

The measures needed for the EU and its member countries to deliver on the reduction commitment have already been put in place through the 2020 climate & energy package.

Changes from Kyoto 1st period

  • New rules on how developed countries are to account for emissions from land use & forestry
  • One more greenhouse gas (making 7 in total) is now covered – nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).

Surplus emission rights (AAUs)

The huge surplus of emission rights (known as "assigned amount units" or AAUs) for certain countries from the 1st Kyoto period had threatened to undermine incentives to meet emissions targets in the new period.

To prevent this, there will be a limit on how much can be carried over from Kyoto period I

And there have been political declarations by the EU, its member countries and all other potential buyers — Australia, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland — that they will not purchase these AAUs.

Documentation

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