Home > Governments on the road to Copenhagen > European climate
change policiesPrint page: The European Union has undertaken
various climate change initiatives since 1991, when it published
the first Community strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
On 29 April 1998, the European Commission signed the Kyoto
Protocol in New York, and , subsequently, on 31 May 2002, all EU
member states ratified the Kyoto Protocol and undertook to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012 with
respect to the base year (1990). As a consequence of the
commitments acquired under the Kyoto Protocol, the European
Union had to take more convincing actions in order to ensure
compliance with emission reductions for the period 2008-2012.
These actions are based mainly on the European Climate Change
Programme and the Greenhouse Gas Emission Allowance Trading
Scheme, one of the pillars of European climate change strategy.
In December 2008, the EU adopted an Integrated Climate Change
and Energy Policy, which includes ambiti