Ireland’s emissions plan accepted by EU Commission

IRELAND was among the first EU countries to have its emissions trading plan under the Kyoto climate control accepted by the European Commission yesterday.

Plans from just five of the EU's old 15 members were accepted unconditionally and this included Ireland, while the plans of three others including Germany and Britain have been told to make technical changes.

The plans outline the amount of carbon dioxide energy-intensive industrial plants, such as electricity generators and cement manufacturing, are allowed to emit. CO2 or greenhouse gasses are blamed for global warming.