Cars risk Europe's climate cuts (click for full story)

The European Union and many member states will probably fail to meet their promises on cutting greenhouse gases, the European Environment Agency says. It blames a huge growth in transport emissions, especially by road vehicles.

These look likely to rise by more than a third between 1990 and 2010, even without a contribution from aviation. But the agency says there is a chance new policies being planned by 11 EU member states could help them to come close to the cuts they have promised.

The agency's forecast will be published in a report, Greenhouse Gas Emission Trends And Projections In Europe 2003. It is announcing the projections as a meeting of the countries which have signed the international climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, gets under way in the Italian city of Milan.