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Abstract

Do Member States (MS) show clear signs that they are abating their GHG emissions? In view of recent trends in emissions, are the Burden Sharing Agreement targets too ambitious for the MS and, particularly, for the cohesion countries? Would this provide an argument for the revision of these targets? This paper tries to answer these questions, which have been asked in Europe at both the policy and academic level. It proposes and develops a set of indicators and applies them to the EU context, assessing the likely trends in GHG emissions in Europe. The main conclusion is that the cohesion countries should not ask for a renegotiation of targets. Their emissions have increased beyond their economic growth patterns because of the weak implementation of both institutional and technological measures aimed at GHG mitigation.

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