The participants in a two-day international conference on
climate protection that opened in Prague on Wednesday discussed how
to coordinate efforts by experts, NGOs and politicians after 2012
when the targets of the Kyoto Protocol expire.
Czech senator Bedrich Moldan, former Czech environment minister,
said that the Czech Republic will certainly meet the protocol's
targets.
"Our country has much less greenhouse gas emissions than in the
past years thanks to a big decrease in industrial production
after1989," Moldan who took part in the conference said.
The Czech emissions showed a 30-percent drop, he said.
However, Moldan added that the country pays only little
attention to climate protection and energy consumption due to this
drop.
Moldan pointed out that Czech economy needs one-third more
energy than advanced old EU countries to achieve a given GDP
level.
The European Union's executive arm cut the annual allocation of
emission allowances for Czech to 86.8 million tons, 14.8 percent
lower than what Prague had asked for last month.
The EU Emissions Trading Scheme, based on national allocation of
emission allowances, ensures that EU and its member states meet
their emission commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to cut
greenhouse gas releases by 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2007)