Study: Pollution on the rise

As the Copenhagen climate summit tackles burning environmental issues, figures reveal the Czech Republic is one of the biggest per-person polluters in the European Union, according to a report by the Hydro-Metrological Institute.

The institute, charged by the Environment Ministry with measuring pollution, places the country as the fourth worst offender per capita in the EU and claims levels of pollution are rising by 2 percent each year.

In a bid to counter the trend, the ministry recently proposed a bill to improve air quality. Among the tools contained in the proposals are designated emission zones in towns and municipalities far from areas of dense population, fees for households found to have high emissions and penalties for inefficient heating systems that belch out pollutants.

Czech carbon emissions amount to 14.4 tons per head, with the average among the EU being 10.5 tons, the institute said. Only three countries - Finland, Ireland and Luxembourg - fare worse.

"Pollution levels are growing year by year," said Petra Roubíčková, an Environment Ministry spokeswoman. Three main factors - transportation, household heating and energy - are contributing to growth, but pollution from transportation increased the most, an alarming 13.2 percent from 2000 to 2008, she said.

Overall, the institute found that from 2000 to 2007 there was an annual increase of 2 percent in total Czech pollution levels. This has a direct impact on health. The diagnosis of asthma in children has increased from 10 percent of the population in 2001 to 30 percent in 2007 in the Ostrava region, according to the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

Delegations from 192 countries are descending on Copenhagen for talks aimed at paving the way for a new global treaty on climate change. The Copenhagen summit is trying to set an agreement by Dec. 18 that limits global temperature from increasing beyond 2 degrees Celsius when compared with pre-industrial levels in 1900.

Record-breaking changes

The first decade of this century is "by far" the warmest since instrumental records began, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The analyses also show that 2009 will almost certainly be the fifth warmest year in the 160 years since record keeping began.

Two years ago, at UN climate talks held in Bali, governments agreed to start work on a new global agreement. The Copenhagen talks mark the end of that two-year period.

The talks are technically known as the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, often abbreviated to COP15.

While President Václav Klaus has dismissed global warming as a manmade phenomenom, the Environment Ministry has a national plan to negate the impact of climate change in the country. The plan acknowledges the Czech Republic has "accepted its share of responsibility for the current state of affairs" concerning the global climate.

The EU aspires to play a leading role at Copenhagen and has pledged to cut emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, or 30 percent if other big emitters take tough action. It also wants rich nations to make an 80 percent to 95 percent cut by 2050.

Cillian O'Donoghue can be reached at
codonoghue@praguepost.com