Emissions from developed countries on the rise: UN

It adds that there has been an overall a three per cent growth in emissions from 2000 to 2007.

"The continuing growth of emissions from industrialised countries remains worrying despite the expectation of a momentary dip brought about by the global recession," said Yvo de Boer, chief of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"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.

Around 192 countries will meet at the Climate Change Conference in the Danish capital are expected to hammer out a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol since the first commitment period under this treaty ends in 2012.

The Protocol signed in 1997 requires 37 industrialised nations to cut total emissions by about five per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.

The United States under the Bush administration did not sign the protocol. The UNFCCC finds that in 2007 the 37 states cut emissions to 16 per cent below 1990 levels though much of this reduction was because of the economic decline slump in eastern Europe after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The tug-of war continues between the developed countries against China and India with the industrialised nations insisting that both the emerging economic powerhouses agree to cut down their emissions.

India has 16 per cent of the world’s populations and produces less than 5 per cent of the word’s greenhouse gases, China has 17 per cent of the world’s population and produces 23 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases, and the US has 5 per cent of the world’s population and produces 22 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

New Delhi refuses to take on international obligations but has promised to pursue "unilateral voluntary mitigation" actions through its National Action Plan on Climate Change and domestic legislation.

According to the new report by the UNFCCC industrialised countries have 55 billion tonnes of Kyoto Protocol unit in their accounts under the carbon market mechanism.
In 2008 some of these units have been traded through the market mechanism of the treaty and trading is expected to increase in the coming years.

"The ultimate size of the carbon markets and its effectiveness to reduce global emissions will depend critically on the level of ambition shown by industrialised countries in Copenhagen," said Boer.