Global warming and the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on the environment is of growing concern to countries worldwide, so much so that the EU has pledged that by 2020 one fifth of the region's energy will come from renewable energy sources. In response to this, many countries have introduced targets to reduce energy use. In the UK, for example, this comes in the form of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme which was introduced in April 2010, and requires companies to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. As well as this, the European Union has launched the Emissions Trading Scheme, which calls for large emitters of CO_2 to monitor and annually report their CO_2 emissions. Through the initiative, the ETS pledges to cut CO, emissions by 34% below 1990 levels by 2020.
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