When the then 15-nation EU ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it pledged to cut CO2 emissions by 8% from 1990 levels by 2012. With the US outside the Kyoto process, its emissions of greenhouse gases increased by 19% from 1990 to 2005, whereas the EU-15’s emissions rose by 8% during that period, above the Kyoto targets but well below the US total.