13 Dec 2006 Green Europe Has Red Face

Looks like Europe is still taking the Kyoto global warming treaty as seriously as ever. A Reuters report says Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Italy have failed “to submit plans that allocate how much carbon dioxide (CO2) their industries may emit in 2008-2012,” resulting in those countries being issued “final warnings” by the European Commission.

The plans were due in June.

France apparently met its deadline but then withdrew its plan “in the face of likely rejection by the EU.”

France, like Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Luxembourg and Spain, is apparently also in trouble with the EU for “failing to provide complete reports on their progress in limiting or cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”

Meanwhile, Kofi “Don’t Let the Door Hit Him on the Way Out, Or, On Second Thought, Do” Annan continues criticizing the U.S. and Australia for not ratifying the Kyoto Treaty. “[The US and Australia] have to be in step with the rest of the industrialized world,” Annan said in November.