TWO WEEKS ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in the Polish city of Poznan, the conference's permanent secretariat in Bonn has reported that greenhouse gas emissions in industrialised countries continue to rise, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Data submitted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) shows that emissions of 40 industrialised countries with reporting obligations rose by 2.3 per cent between 2000 to 2006 - although they were still 5 per cent below 1990 levels.
For the smaller group of industrialised countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, emissions in 2006 were about 17 per cent below the 1990 baseline overall - mainly due to economic restructuring in central and eastern European countries - but still growing after 2000.
"The figures clearly underscore the urgency for the UN negotiating process to make good progress in Poznan and move forward quickly in designing a new agreement to respond to the challenge of climate change," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.
The UN's top climate change official also noted that accounting data, including greenhouse gas emission quotas for the Kyoto commitment period 2008-2012, has been finalised for almost all Kyoto countries, where they form the basis for emissions trading.
"Emission quotas defined by the Kyoto Protocol are no longer simple numbers on paper - they are part of real-time operation of the global carbon market," Mr de Boer said. "We see the carbon market working and this is an important message, not least for the Poznan meeting."
The UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, scheduled to run from December 1st-12th, marks the halfway mark of a two-year negotiating process, leading to what the UN hopes will be an ambitious international climate change deal in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
In Poznan, negotiators from 190 UN member states are expected to take stock of the progress made since the summit in Bali last December, and to map out what needs to be done to reach agreement at the critically important Copenhagen summit.
The Poznan conference will also be an important opportunity for ministers to determine the key ingredients of a shared vision on long-term co-operation to address climate change - including a deal on the transfer of clean energy technology to developing countries.
It is likely that there will be a particular focus on the US delegation and whether it will reflect the more trenchant view of president-elect Barrack Obama on the need to tackle climate change, compared with outgoing president George Bush, who disavowed Kyoto in 2001.
Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, 37 UN member states - including Ireland - have legally binding emissions-reduction targets. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilise greenhouse gases at a level that would prevent dangerous climate change.