The United Nations has dismissed claims by the Greek government that its officials may have been influenced by negative comments from third parties in arriving at its decision to suspend Greece from the Kyoto Protocol’s emissions trading system.

“The Compliance Committee is made up of scientists from five continents and 20 countries,” John Hay, a spokesperson from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Sunday’s Kathimerini. “It is a totally independent body… and has nothing to gain from showing distrust in any government.”

Hay said however that the clock has begun ticking for Greece to come up with an acceptable system of measuring its carbon emissions. “Greece will have to submit by June a plan that will clearly explain how it intends to deal with the issues raised by the ruling against it.”