A friend asked me whether any countries had met their targets under the Kyoto Protoccol. Kyoto sets out an agenda for Annex 1 countries for reducing GHG emissions by 5.2 % from 1990 levels. (By the way, Portland, Oregon will have reduced its GHG emissions to 10 % below its 1990 levels by 2010 in spite of an 18% percent growth in its population.) According to Wikipedia, the answer to my friend's question is yes. Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all reduced their GHG emissions by at least 14 % without including land use, land use change, and forestry in the calculations. France has met its obligations as well if land use is included.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#Change_in_greenhouse_gas_emission_since_1990
Implicit in my friend's question was "Could Canada have reduced its GHG emissions if it had tried?" Denmark and Germany are relatively cold countries and Germany is a large country. So the answer is yes - if Canada had made any effort at all, we could have achieved reductions. Germany has cut its emissions by 17 % partly because it has actively supported green industries and clean energy. ( Please see my earlier post on Germany and clean energy at "Sunshine and Power. )
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