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EU on track to hit carbon targets

According to the report EU carbon emissions for 2010 were 15.5% below 1990 levels despite economic growth of 41 per cent over the same period. These figures are despite a 2.4 per cent increase in emissions last year driven by a degree of economic recovery.

"The EU continued decoupling emissions from GDP during the recession," EU climate change commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in a statement. "Between 2008 and 2009, emissions fell by 7.1 per cent in the EU-27, much more than the around four per cent contraction in GDP."

"Pursuing our efforts to make Europe a low-carbon society is the way forward," she said. "It will stimulate technological innovation, spur economic growth and create jobs while further reducing emissions so that we meet our 2020 climate and energy targets and long term goals."