"For 2008-2012, our target limit is an average of 70.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year," Mauri Pekkarinen, Finland's minister of trade and industry, told Reuters in an interview.

"By 2012, it has to be under 70.5 million tonnes."

A Finnish official said the 2008-2012 goals were roughly the same as the targets for the current period, 2005-2007.

"The target is the same for both periods," he said.

Pekkarinen said the targets used 1990 as a base year, when Finland was in recession and CO2 output was lower due to sluggish industrial production. The target compares with 80 million tonnes on average per year for 2003 to 2004, he said.

Under the EU scheme, companies buy or sell rights to pollute, based on limits set by national governments.

The EU's 25 member nations are forming their plans for the 2008-2012 period, which must be approved by the executive European Commission.

Pekkarinen said he was unhappy with the EU scheme.

"I think the emissions trading scheme was not a good idea," he said, adding that Finnish firms had to buy rights from their peers as infrastructure was slowly being updated.

"How to hit the target is the key issue. We renew our industrial infrastructure, but it's not possible to go forward so rapidly, so our companies have to buy emissions rights from other companies," he said.

"One steel company has to buy emission rights from a neighbouring country even though it has one of the best emissions controls in the world."

The EU scheme covers high-polluting factories such as power stations, oil refineries, steel mills and cement plants.