VIENNA (AFP) — Austria will not be able to meet its Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions targets in 2012 unless it takes even tougher domestic measures, the Austrian Court of Audit warned Thursday.
Reaching the targets with national measures was "unlikely," the court said in a new report published Thursday.
The target would be missed even if Austria made maximum use of mechanisms internationally available such as the purchase of so-called emission credits to compensate for its excess greenhouse gases.
"Substantially tougher and more rapidly effective measures within Austria are needed," the report said.
"Every shortfall now is going to make it more difficult to reach the targets in future," the court said. "It's blatantly obvious that the money used to purchase the necessary emission credits cannot be docked from the investment necessary for reductionary measures. They represent an additional expenditure."
The likelihood that Austria will face disciplinary action from the EU for failing to meet its Kyoto targets was "relatively high," the court added.
Austria, with its many lakes and mountains, is a leader in renewable energy, with 21 percent of its power coming from renewable sources in 2005, compared to just six percent for the rest of the European Union, according to an EU report.
Hydropower alone made up eight percent of Austria's energy needs in 2005, with other sources like biomass, biogas, solar and wind power supplying the rest, according to the environment ministry.
But it is still far from reaching its Kyoto Protocol target.
In a report released earlier this year, the Federal Environmental Protection Bureau said Austria's emissions in 2006 -- data is published with a two-year delay -- amounted to 91.1 million tonnes, up 15.1 percent from its 1990 level of 79.2 million tonnes.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Austria is supposed to cut its emissions in 2012 by 13 percent from 1990 levels, to 68.8 million tonnes.
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