Energy News  
In shift, Japan to set post-Kyoto carbon cut goal: reports

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 18, 2008
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will next week unveil a post-Kyoto goal for cutting carbon emissions, pleasing environmentalists but butting heads with industry, reports said Friday.

Japan is eager to show that it is taking the lead in the fight against global warming before it hosts the annual summit of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrial nations, in July.

Fukuda will announce the change in policy next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the annual get-together of government, business and academic leaders, the Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News said.

The reports, quoting unnamed government sources, said Fukuda would set a specific goal for after the Kyoto Protocol's commitments expire in 2012 and urge a global goal.

Officials declined immediate comment on the reports, which did not state what the numerical goal would be.

Japan, despite being home of the Kyoto Protocol, is well behind in its own obligations.

Green groups lashed out at Japan last month at a UN conference in Bali for joining the United States, the only major industrial country to reject Kyoto, in opposing setting a specific goal for future emissions.

Kyodo News said that Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita, who represented Japan in Bali, pushed Fukuda for the change in policy at a meeting this week but was opposed by Industry Minister Akira Amari.

Industry leaders have voiced concern about carbon cut requirements, fearing that the push will put at risk the fragile recovery of the world's second largest economy from recession in the 1990s.

Masaharu Kono, the deputy foreign minister, told the Yomiuri Shimbun that Davos was an appropriate time to set out Japan's goals for the G8 summit, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The meeting "will be attended by the world's top figures in politics and business who are waiting to see what the Group of Eight's new presidency would say," Kono told the newspaper.

The European Union has unilaterally set a goal of slashing carbon emissions by 20 to 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels and has offered to go further if other major economies join the effort.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Norway aims to be carbon neutral by 2030
Oslo (AFP) Jan 17, 2008
Norway's government said Thursday the country would dramatically slash its carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 and aim to be completely carbon neutral by 2030 -- 20 years ahead of schedule.







  • India to stand up to Brown on climate change
  • Bush officials say oil drilling will not harm polar bears
  • US Has An Ally In Azerbaijan For Energy Supply
  • Analysis: Russia eyes Caspian projects

  • Sarkozy seeks nuclear, defence deals during India visit
  • Russia delivers more than half nuclear fuel to Iran: official
  • Taiwan may ship nuclear waste to France: report
  • Russia, Bulgaria sign 4.0-bln-euro nuclear plant contract

  • New Model Revises Estimates Of Terrestrial Carbon Dioxide Uptake
  • A Breathable Earth
  • Researchers Find Origin Of Breathable Atmosphere Half A Billion Years Ago
  • Study Reveals Lakes A Major Source Of Prehistoric Methane

  • China to plant 2.5 billion trees: report
  • Rwanda's Gishwati Forest Selected As Site For Historic Conservation Project
  • PM pledges one billion dollars for struggling mining, forestry towns
  • No Convincing Evidence For Decline In Tropical Forests

  • German farmers cultivate ways to fight global warming
  • WWF cries 'scandal' over French plans for fish quotas
  • FDA OKs food from some cloned animals
  • Micro-Grant Makes Business Boom For Iraqi Butcher

  • Green car sales soar 49 percent in Sweden: agency
  • Renault to offer a 'green' Dacia Logan by 2010: report
  • Germans, Japanese automakers push diesel in the US
  • Green-car market battle lines drawn at Detroit Motor Show

  • Qatar Airways looking to natural gas fuel
  • EADS offers to build military, civilian aircraft in US
  • Purdue Wind Tunnel Key For Hypersonic Vehicles And Future Space Planes
  • Antarctic ballooning hits milestone

  • Nuclear Power In Space - Part 2
  • Outside View: Nuclear future in space
  • Nuclear Power In Space

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement