This can partly be attributed to the collapse of heavily polluting Soviet-style industry. But, in changing the base year for absolute emission levels from 1990 to 2005, the Commission also seems to be trying to cover up the EU-15’s failure while pushing excessively large reduction targets onto the EU member states that are already the most environmentally efficient.
例如，拉脱维亚，立陶宛和爱沙尼亚已经努力在2005使其温室气体排放量和1990年相比，减少了一半。这部分是因为苏联式的污染严重的工业的瓦解。但是，在将绝对排放水平基准年从1990年变为2005年的时候，欧洲委员会似乎在急切的向已经是环境效率最高的欧盟成员国推行非常大的消减目标的同时，也在努力掩盖欧盟15国的失败。