With each passing year, the impending crisis of global warming looms closer and closer. Time is running out for preventive action to be taken. The European Union's "20-20-20" mantra aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent relative to their level in 1990 and to increase the share of renewable resources to 20 percent by the year 2020. Is it really viable?
The EU seemingly has a long-term record of championing action to prevent climate change. In 1994, the EU committed itself to the greenhouse gas reductions set forth by the Kyoto Protocol and ratified it in 2002. The EU-15 promised an 8 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2010.
Every industrial nation that has not ratified the Kyoto protocol, first and foremost the United States, has been criticized for being "environmentally irresponsible."