Japan uses offsets to meet emission goals
19 Nov 2013 3:51 AM IST
Japan met its Kyoto Protocol obligations to lower greenhouse gas emissions by planting trees and buying carbon credits as actual emissions rose, media reported on Sunday, days after the country watered down targets for cutting them further by 2020.
Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara will release the preliminary figures on 20 November in Warsaw, where some 190 nations are meeting from 11-12 November to work on a global climate pact, the Nikkei and Asahi newspapers said.
Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, was obliged under Kyoto to cut emissions by 6 percent from 1990/91 levels to 1.186 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent a year on average over the five years to March 2013.
The Nikkei business daily said actual emissions rose by 1.4 percent to 1.279 billion tonnes, but Japan met its target with offsets for planting trees and through the government and companies purchasing carbon credits from abroad.
Cumulative credit buying by the government totalled 97.559 million tonnes by March 2012.
On Friday, Japan drastically scaled back its commitment further emission cuts by 2020, with Ishihara saying it was unavoidable due to the closure of the country’s 50 nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster.
The government will now target a 3.8 percent cut by 2020 versus 2005 levels. That amounts to a 3 percent rise from a UN benchmark year of 1990 and the reversal of the previous target of a 25 percent reduction.
Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara will release the preliminary figures on 20 November in Warsaw, where some 190 nations are meeting from 11-12 November to work on a global climate pact, the Nikkei and Asahi newspapers said.
Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, was obliged under Kyoto to cut emissions by 6 percent from 1990/91 levels to 1.186 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent a year on average over the five years to March 2013.
The Nikkei business daily said actual emissions rose by 1.4 percent to 1.279 billion tonnes, but Japan met its target with offsets for planting trees and through the government and companies purchasing carbon credits from abroad.
Cumulative credit buying by the government totalled 97.559 million tonnes by March 2012.
On Friday, Japan drastically scaled back its commitment further emission cuts by 2020, with Ishihara saying it was unavoidable due to the closure of the country’s 50 nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster.
The government will now target a 3.8 percent cut by 2020 versus 2005 levels. That amounts to a 3 percent rise from a UN benchmark year of 1990 and the reversal of the previous target of a 25 percent reduction.
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