The European Commission presented on 10 January its eagerly awaited Communication relating to “strategic measures for the fight against climate change down to 2020 and beyond”, complementing the measures that are already in place and that will remain in force until 2012 (when the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions expires). The declared objective of Brussels, shared with the international scientific community and most world governments, consists in “taking appropriate measures to ensure that the growth of temperatures on a planetary scale be limited to the security limit fixed at 2°C less than pre-industrial levels”. The main proposal of the Commission – formally addressed to the summit of heads of state and of government in early March – is intended to lead to the signing of a new international accord that would oblige the developed countries to reduce by 2020 their CO2 emissions by an average of 30% over the values for 1990, with the European commitment to reduce its own quota by at least 20%. Apart from the improvement of energy efficiency and the increase of renewable energy quotas in all member states, the Communication also presents other measures aimed at combating climate change, including a substantial growth of the budget for research on climate/energy/transport and the enlargement of the market for the trading of greenhouse gas emissions.
