Carbon Emissions Up Among Industrialized Nations In 2007
Industrialized nations had a one-percent rise in carbon emissions in 2007, which is a point of concern as the December climate summit in Copenhagen approaches.
The Bonn-based UN Climate Change Secretariat said Wednesday that 2007 emissions from 40 industrialized countries with reporting obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were about four percent less than 1990 levels.
However, levels were up by three percent over the 2000-2007 period, AFP reported.
"The continuing growth of emissions from industrialized countries remains worrying, despite the expectation of a momentary dip brought about by the global recession," UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said.
"So the numbers for 2007 underscore, once again, the urgent need to seal a comprehensive, fair and effective climate change deal in Copenhagen in December," he added.
Emissions remained unchanged for the most part among the 37 countries with targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Their 2007 emissions almost matched those of 2006, making it down by 0.1 percent and about 16 percent below the 1990 Kyoto baseline for industrialized countries that have targets.
But much of this came from the economic downturn in countries in central and eastern Europe after the fall of communism twenty years ago, and emissions from these countries have risen by three percent since 2000, according to the agency.
More than 190 countries are set to come together on the Danish capital in December to try to work out a treaty to take on global warming that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
More developed nations have called on emerging giants like China and India, which had no obligations under Kyoto, to commit to some sort of binding action on cutting emissions.
However, China and India along with other wealthier nations have consistently resisted any such commitment, claiming that industrialized nations should bear the burden of responsibility.
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