Emissions in rich countries hit all-time high, finds UN climate change group
The total greenhouse gas emissions of 40 industrialized countries reached an all-time high in 2005, driven by rising economic growth in those nations, according to the latest data submitted to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The data, released today in Bonn by the UNFCCC, indicates that continuing growth in the richest nations and revived growth in Eastern European States are largely responsible for the increase, with emissions from the transport sector growing at the fastest rate.
But the figures also show that the countries which have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol are projected to achieve reductions of about 11 per cent on 1990-level emissions for the protocol's first commitment period, which runs from next year until 2012. This is above the protocol target, which commits industrialized nations to a 5 per cent cut.
Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said reductions of 15 per cent are even possible among some of those nations – especially in the European Union – if they plan and implement further policies in this area.
Yet other affluent nations to the Kyoto Protocol are still projected to see an upward trend in emissions, he noted.
The world's countries are due to gather under the auspices of the UN in Bali, Indonesia, early next month to try to devise a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol.
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