EU Announces Climate Change Plan with 20% GHG Reduction

The new plan announced by the European Union (EU) this week includes a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020 compared to Eurpoean emission levels in 1990.  The plan would use a variety of methods to reduce emissions across the continent:

• carbon credit trading
• renewable energy
• automotive emissions limits
• energy-efficient heating and cooling

From GreenBiz News:

Significant savings will come from reducing energy imports by European countries -- saving perhaps 50b euros per year. Along those lines, reduced air pollution will eventually save 11b euros per year, as spending for pollution controls drops dramatically.

From ABC News

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso unveiled sweeping new plans to slash EU greenhouse gas emissions which he said would cost the bloc around 60 billion euros ($100 billion) a year.  "This amounts to about three euros ($5.05) a week as average for the European citizen," he said. "The cost of inaction is up to 10 times more than what we are proposing."