The EU Legal Frameworks - The Sustainability of Renewable Energy in Europe - page 10

1.3 EU Legislation on the Kyoto Protocol

In order to understand the success of 2020 climate and energy package, it is useful
to deepen the basis, further back in time, that have allowed to achieve this success.
The EU has always been very proactive in the environmental field, with a proactive
approach and a cutting-edge legislation. In order to bridge the differences drawn
from the various countries of the community, the EU has ratified the protocol it-
self collectively on behalf of all member states. According to the Kyoto Protocol,
industrialized countries and countries with economies in transition need to reduce
their total emissions between 2008 and 2012 at least 5 % compared to 1990 levels.
World CO 2 emissions from fuel combustion before the entry into force of the Kyoto
Protocol and its targets are shown in Table 1.1 .
The EU has become a pioneer of the EU ETS in 2005, three years before the date
set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
for the start of the international trade in shares. The EU has the advantage of having
good mechanisms of governance and control in order to ensure compliance with
the common rules by the member states. The EU has several regulatory tools to
control and determine the various policies. These instruments, called EU law, are
based on the treaties establishing the European Communities. The EU law may be
adopted by the council of the EU or jointly by the European Parliament, and it can
take many forms. In particular, “regulations” are binding legislative instruments
that are applied directly within the member states, without the need for a national
transposition or other steps by states. Regulations are called “European laws.” The
“Directives” are intended for one or more member states and must be transposed
in national legislation in accordance with the procedures of the various states. The
“Decisions” are legislative acts addressed to one or all member states. There are
also the “Recommendations” and “Communication” which are non-binding acts of
the EU, and also the “messages” that have a purely informational.
Community legislation on the Kyoto Protocol is already equipped with a system
of rules and procedures for verification and compliance. The most widely used leg-
islative instrument by the EU on the Kyoto Protocol is the directive.
The following are the most important texts of the EU legislation around the
Kyoto Protocol.
Directive 96/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control sets out mea-
sures to prevent or reduce emissions that affect pollution of air, water, and soil. The
main point of the directive is the configuration of a system of permits issued by
environmental authorities in each member state for authorization of emissions by
large manufacturing and combustion plants (European Commission 1966).
Decision 1999/296/EC establishes a mechanism for the monitoring of emissions
of CO 2 and other GHG in the community and to evaluate the progress made towards
the fulfillment of commitments to reduce emissions. The Decision 1999/296/EC
also sets guidelines for the annual reports of the member states to the European
Commission, and it requires states to plan and implement national programs for
reductions in GHG emissions (European Commission 1999 ).