Choice of reference year key issue in UN talks

摘要

With countries continuing to announce mid-term emission reduction targets in the ongoing United Nations talks for a new climate treaty, the reference year they use when disclosing their goals is as much a political as a technical matter. The EU position is to use 1990 as the base year and to put pressure on industrialised countries to, as a group, reduce their greenhouse gas emission levels to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020. EU neighbours like Iceland, Switzerland and Ukraine also use 1990 and are adopting similar targets.