European Climate Change Programme

The European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) was launched in June 2000 by the European Union's European Commission. The goal of the ECCP is to identify, develop and implement all the necessary elements of an EU strategy to implement the Kyoto Protocol. All EU countries' ratifications of the Kyoto Protocol were deposited simultaneously on 31 May 2002. The European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is perhaps the most significant contribution of the ECCP, and the EU ETS is the largest greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world. In 1996 the EU adopted a target of a maximum 2°C rise in average global temperature.