The United States finally agreed to participate in "open and non-binding" talks on reducing emissions that will try to include developing countries like China and India in the process as well. The countries that already subscribe to the Kyoto Protocol (all the major industrialised countries of the world except the United States and Australia) also signed to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next three years.

Under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the fifteen pre-expansion member states of the old European Union (the EU), agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8% during the period 2008 to 2012 from 1990 levels. Probably no other geographical region of the industrialised world has taken the dangers of global warming more seriously than the EU.

It has not only reduced its total gas emissions by 1.4% during the period 1990 to 2003 but also, according to its environment commissioner, earnestly working to reach a goal of between 6.8% and 9.3% reduction from 1990 level by 2010. Germany and Britain with reductions of 18.2% and 13% already achieved during the period 1990 to 2003 have done particularly well.

In order to achieve the overall target, the EU has imposed limits on emissions of carbon dioxide by thousands of power plants and factories particularly in the oil refining, smelting, steel, cement, ceramics, glass, and paper sectors. It has also introduced a carbon trading system which is designed to give incentives to businesses to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Under this system, factories that exceed their limits must either pay penalties for each extra ton of carbon dioxide emitted or buy permits from companies which emit less.

Against this backdrop of the EU's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the recent (June 28) announcement made by the German government to give exemptions to all new power plants, including coal, has come as a shock to the environmentalists. The German government is in effect allowing the power industry to opt out of the emission control program until 2022. Besides undermining the EU's efforts to fight global warming, I am afraid that this decision will send a wrong signal to other member states of the EU.

Unfortunately, France has already made a similar proposal, which will effectively add 20 million tons more carbon dioxide gases per year to what France emitted in 2005. During the period 1990 to 2003, France managed to lower its total emissions by 1.9% from the 1990 level. If France insists on the implementation of its new proposal, it will indeed be a blow to the EU's commitments to make further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Spain is already the worst polluter in terms of percentage of all the industrialised nations. During the same period (1990 to 2003), instead of reducing emissions, Spain increased them by 42%. Yet the Spanish government seems to be completely oblivious of its responsibilities and commitments in this field. According to some unofficial estimates, over the last two years the greenhouse gas emissions by Spanish factories increased to reach 53% over the 1990 level.

In this context it is worth mentioning that during the period 1990 to 2002, the overall greenhouse gas emissions in the EU had fallen 2.9% below the 1990 level, but the situation worsened in 2003 because the energy companies used more coal for electricity production. So the recent German and French decisions on exemptions together with Spain's indulgent attitude on this issue will make it extremely difficult for the EU to achieve its reduction targets.

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.