Richard Kinley, acting head of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that sizeable reductions had been achieved from the developed world, but that a large part of this was achieved in the early 1990s when countries in eastern and central Europe started the transition to a market economy.

He said that national efforts had led to emissions reductions but that this should not lead to complacency.

“What we see is that the emissions from developed countries as a group have been stable in recent years and not decreased as they did in the early 1990s,” Mr Kinley said. “Moreover, GHG projections indicate the possibility of emission growth by 2010. It means that ensuring sustained and deeper emissions reductions remains a challenge for developed countries.”

His quotes were backed up by a new UNFCCC publication, Key GHG Data, the first publication covering all GHG data officially submitted by developed and developing countries under the Climate Change Convention.

It includes data on GHG emissions from 40 developed and 121 developing countries. The UNFCCC believes the data will become a recognised source for authoritative, transparent information on greenhouse gas emissions.

David Hopkins

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