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Rich nations' greenhouse gas emissions have risen near to an all-time high, led by US and Russian gains.
The 40 leading industrial nations spewed out 18.2 billion tonnes in 2005 - the latest for which figures are available - up from 18.1 billion in 2004, says the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn.
That was just 2.8 per cent below the record 18.7 billion in 1990.
The 2005 rise confirmed an upwards trend in recent years despite efforts at cuts by many governments worried that climate change, widely blamed on fossil fuel use, will spur ever more floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising seas.
Emissions by the US - long the world's top emitter, but now neck and neck with China - rose to 7.24 billion tonnes from 7.19 billion in 2004.
Washington has since issued a preliminary estimate that emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, fell by 1.3 per cent in 2006 from 2005 despite robust economic growth.
Revived economic growth in former Eastern Bloc nations was a main spur to the overall rise in emissions.
Greenhouse gases fell in the European Union and Canada in 2005 but were fractionally higher in Japan.
Overall emissions by former Eastern Bloc states rose to 3.6 billion tonnes in 2005, up from 3.4 billion in 2000 but down from 5.6 billion in 1990.
- Reuters
