G8 environment ministers meeting in Japan this weekend will be reflecting on some encouraging news after a Reuters survey revealed that emissions from the group of industrialised nations during 2006 fell by their greatest level since 1990.

The study found that despite average economic growth for advanced economies of three per cent, greenhouse gas emissions fell for all the G8 nations, barring Russia. Emissions from the US, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, Britain and Italy all fell from the previous year's levels by between 0.02 and 2.5 per cent.

Russia was the only G8 nation to show an increase in emissions, climbing 3.1 per cent on the back of its recent economic boom.

However, Reuters said that overall emissions by the G8 fell to 14.04 billion tonnes in 2006 from 14.12 billion in 2005, according to calculations based on submissions to the UN Climate Change Secretariat. The fall marks the biggest drop in emissions from the industrialised nations since international efforts to curb emissions begin in 1990.

The results will be seen as encouraging evidence that economic growth and carbon emissions can be decoupled and that the transition to a lower carbon economy need not lead to cuts in GDP.

However, opinions were divided on the root cause of the results with critics claiming that higher oil prices and a mild US winter had a far greater impact on emission levels than any policy initiatives.

"Unfortunately, it is difficult to discover policy actions in any of these countries that would explain the reduced emissions," Knut Alfsen, research director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo told Reuters. "I'm fairly pessimistic with regard to whether the countries are 'starting to get to grips' with the climate change challenge."

Attention will now turn to the carbon data for 2007 when it is hoped that the emergence of climate change as a high profile issue and the launch of numerous consumer-focused environmental campaigns will have ensured the continuation of a downward trend in emissions.

Meanwhile, G8 environment ministers will meet this weekend in Kobe, Japan, to thrash out details ahead of the full G8 Summit in July.

Deforestation and clean technology transfer issues are expected to dominate the summit agenda with the UK, Japan and US expected to provide further details on the proposed technology transfer fund for promoting clean technologies in developing countries.

There have also been reports that Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda could use the summit to unveil further plans for a Japanese carbon cap-and-trade scheme similar to one operating in Europe.