Sydney, Nov.2 : Australians have been identified as the world’s largest community of greenhouse polluters.

According to a research undertaken by the Australian National University (ANU), emissions across the continent grew almost 26 per cent, the sixth fastest in the developed world, between 1990 and 2005.

Seventeen years ago, each Australian contributed 24.8 tonnes in emissions annually.  By 2005 that had grown to 25.9 tonnes, news.com.au quotes the research paper, as saying.

The analysis by the ANU's Climate Law Initiative used data from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and excludes emissions associated with land use changes and forestry.

It shows that Australia's per capita emissions were the highest in the developed world on average between 1996 and 2005. The US came in second, followed by Luxembourg, Canada and New Zealand.

The report’s author, Andrew Macintosh, said Federal and State governments had failed to reduce or stabilise emissions. (ANI)