A group of seven United Nations experts arrived in Athens yesterday for a one-week visit aimed at assessing whether Greece is fit to re-enter a greenhouse emissions trading program from which it was suspended by the UN in April.
The seven inspectors are to meet with scientists from the National Technical University of Athens and experts from the Environment and Public Works Ministry to determine whether Greece has made any progress since April when UN officials deemed that the national system for measuring pollution levels was unreliable.
The inspectors - experts in different fields including manufacturing, agriculture and refuse management - are to remain in Greece until Saturday, after which they will submit written assessments on the country's progress - or lack of it - to the UN.
In April, Greece was told it must develop a new and more effective system of measuring emissions. The creation and operation of the new system is being handled by a team of Athens-based chemists who are being overseen by Yiannis Ziomas, the director of the National Center for Environmental and Sustainable Development (EKPAA). It is EKPAA which is responsible for keeping a record of the emissions trading rights of Greek firms.
After Greece was rapped by the UN in April, Ziomas claimed the country had introduced a new pollution measuring system in January but «had not had the opportunity to demonstrate its efficiency to United Nations officials.»
Greece is alone among the 141 countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol to have been suspended from the UN's emissions trading scheme - a system allowing countries to trade greenhouse emissions with less industrialized nations in order to meet air pollution targets and curb global warming.
(KATHIMERINI, 09/09/2008)