Ireland exceeded every other EU member-state apart from Spain in the rate of increase in its emissions of greenhouse gases during the 1990s, according to data compiled by the European Environment Agency.
Between 1990 and 1999, our emissions of the gases blamed for causing climate change went up by 22.1 per cent - nearly nine points higher than the increase allowed over the 20-year period to 2010 under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol.
Over the same period, Ireland's emissions of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - rose by 32.7 per cent, the highest increase recorded for any EU member-state. This is seen as a reflection of the failure to "decouple" emissions and economic growth.
The next highest was Portugal, with 31.2 per cent, followed by Spain (24.3 per cent) and Greece (16.7 per cent), the EEA said. By comparison, Germany's emissions of CO2 fell by 15.4 per cent and Britain's by 8.9 per cent over the same period.
Based on current trends, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are likely to overshoot the emission targets under the EU "burden-sharing" deal agreed in Luxembourg in 1998.
Emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the EU were down by 4 per cent overall on the 1990 base year - or halfway to meeting the targeted 8 per cent reduction required by Kyoto. The US, by contrast, recorded an 11 per cent increase.
Despite Irish criticisms of President Bush's decision to disown the Kyoto Protocol, little progress has been made here to implement the National Climate Change Strategy published last November by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey.
Described at the time as a "radical blueprint" aimed at decoupling economic growth and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it envisaged the widespread application on a phased basis of carbon taxes to reduce the consumption of CO 2emitting fossil fuels.
Although Mr Dempsey said "green taxes" were necessary to help meet Ireland's commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to limit the increase to 13 per cent above 1990 levels by 2010, no such measures were included in the Government's last Budget.
Next Thursday, at a conference entitled "Green and Bear It?", the ESRI will again be putting forward the case for a switch to eco-taxation and other market-based instruments to achieve environmental goals - including the implementation of Kyoto commitments.
Ms Sue Scott, head of the institute's environment policy research centre, said yesterday it was a shame that, 10 years after the ESRI had first proposed carbon taxes as a viable option, almost no progress had been made on this front.
"We're not talking about new taxes, but about the way we tax", she said, adding that this week's conference would be looking at ways to minimise the number of losers from a switch to eco-taxation as well as at the more complex issue of trading carbon emissions.
Further information on this week's conference can be obtained from the ESRI at 4 Burlington Road, Dublin 4, telephone (01) 6671525, or via e-mail: admin@esri.ie
