May 23, 2006 -- BBC Monitoring

 

Australia's environment minister says Australia remains on track to meet its international greenhouse gas emissions target. Senator Ian Campbell says the most recent figures show 2004 greenhouse gas emissions were up just 2.3 per cent on 1990 levels.

The announcement coincides with the release of a government report into climate change which shows the problem is accelerating at a faster rate than scientists first thought. Senator Campbell says a decade of effort to reduce emissions in Australia is having an impact. [Campbell] This is an effort where industry, households, local governments, state and federal governments are all working together to achieve that goal. We need to keep doing that, but it's not all bad news out there. We've shown that we can decouple economic growth from greenhouse growth.

Source: Radio Australia, Melbourne, in English 0600 gmt 23 May 06

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