Ireland falls behind EU on emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU fell by 0.7 per cent in 2005 - but a breakdown of the figures indicates Ireland's emissions rose by almost 2 per cent.

The figures released by the EU Environment Agency yesterday prompted EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas to comment that many states need to "accelerate their efforts" to meet Kyoto targets.

While emissions fell overall across the EU in the first year of the carbon emissions trading scheme, Ireland recorded a 1.9 per cent increase.

Other countries which also recorded emissions increases in 2005 were Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia.

The best performers were Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Romania, which contributed most to the 2005 decrease in absolute terms.

Germany reduced its emissions by 2.3 per cent, Finland by 14.6 per cent, the Netherlands by 2.9 per cent and Romania by 4 per cent.

Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK also recorded emissions reductions.

The EU Environment Agency said the decrease was mainly due to lower CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production, households and services, and road transport.