This report presents an overview of the progress made by the EU, its Member States and other EEA member countries towards their GHG emission targets. It first assesses current progress towards targets under the Kyoto Protocol (KP), mainly based on historic GHG emissions data for the first three years of the KP's five-year first commitment period (2008–2012). The following chapter summarises information related to the EU ETS. Then, based on projections reported by the countries themselves, the report assesses projected emission levels against the EU objective of reducing GHG emission levels by 20 % compared to 1990 levels by 2020 (2). Finally, it looks at the progress of Member States towards their national targets for 2020 set under the EU's Effort Sharing Decision (406/2009/EU), based on projected emissions in non-EU ETS sectors.

At the end of 2010, the EU-15 was on track to achieve its Kyoto target. The economic recession in the EU affected total GHG emission trends more than it affected actual progress towards the Kyoto targets.

Twenty-five EU Member States (all except Cyprus and Malta), Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland have individual GHG reduction and limitation targets under the KP. The EU-15 also has a common 8 % reduction target compared to base-year levels, to be achieved collectively by the 15 pre-2004 EU Member States (the EU-15) under the 'burden-sharing agreement'. These targets represent averages to be achieved during the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period (2008–2012).

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