Under Kyoto, France pledged not to increase its 1990 emissions by 2012.

Separately, it has committed itself to a cut of 75 percent by 2050, amounting to an annualised reduction of three percent.

The figures given by Olin correspond to the end of 2005, the first year in which a 2004 "Climate Plan" to lower carbon pollution was fully implemented.

"Without the plan, France would be on course for an increase of more than six percent" or even 10 percent by 2010, Olin said.

Olin said the transport sector and the construction sector had to do more to reduce their pollution. Transport accounts for 27 percent of the country's total greenhouse gases and its emissions have risen by nearly a quarter since 1990.

Greenhouse gases -- mainly the carbon product of burning oil, gas and coal -- are so called because they trap solar radiation.

By warming Earth's atmosphere, they are also causing Earth's climate to change, with what could be catastrophic results, scientists say.

The Kyoto Protocol commits industrialised countries that have signed and ratified it to make cuts amounting to around five percent in their emissions.

But it lacks the United States, which has refused to ratify it, and under its present format, fast-growing developing countries such as China and India, which have recently become big polluters, do not have to make binding cuts.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.