Steep increase in global CO2 emissions despite reductions by industrialised countries

This increase took place despite emission reductions in  industrialised countries during the same period. Even though different countries show widely variable emission trends, industrialised countries are likely to meet their collective Kyoto target of a 5.2% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 as a group, partly thanks to large emission reductions from economies in transition in the early nineties and more recent reductions due to the 2008-2009 recession. However, their share of global emissions has fallen from about two-thirds in 1990 to less than half in 2010. These figures were published today in the report "Long-term trend in global CO₂ emissions", prepared by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.