Wednesday's data could put pressure on Japan to impose mandatory emissions curbs. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO - JAPANESE greenhouse gas emissions hit a record high in the year to March, the government said on Wednesday, raising more questions about whether Japan will fail to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol climate pact.
Wednesday's data could put pressure on Japan to impose mandatory emissions curbs after more than a decade of voluntary industry efforts that have failed to deliver.
Unlike the European Union, Japan has been reluctant to impose a mandatory cap on companies' emissions because of past efforts by industry to conserve energy.
Under the Kyoto pact, Japan must cut its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases to 6 per cent below 1990 levels starting in the year to next March.
But in 2007/08 they were 9 per cent higher than that at 1.371 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Emissions climbed 2.3 per cent in the year to March, the preliminary government data showed, following a 1.3 per cent fall the previous year.
A rise was widely expected after the world's biggest nuclear plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), had to suspend operations following a July 2007 earthquake.
The outlook for emissions remains unclear as the TEPCO plant remains shut indefinitely, although the global economic slowdown may contain Japan's energy use.
Japan is targeting emissions of 1.186 billion tonnes a year over the five years that started in April.
The government has set a private-sector target - to be met through voluntary steps - at 1.254 billion tonnes, which will be offset a further 68 million tonnes a year by government spending on domestic forest conservation and UN carbon offsets generated from the rest of the world.
To meet the Kyoto goal, the private sector would have to cut annual emissions by 9.3 per cent from 1990/91's 1.261 billion tonnes, the ministry said.
Tokyo is relying mostly on voluntary pledges from the electric power industry to cut CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour to 0.34kg on average over the years through 2012, but in the year to March that figure stood at 0.453kg.
The closure of TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant has increased its use of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, to make up for the shortfall in nuclear power.
Restarting the plant could reduce Japan's CO2 emissions by 30 million tonnes a year, according to the company's calculations.
Nevertheless, even if the industry met the government target, emissions would have had totalled 1.267 billion tonnes, still above the private-sector target figure, the ministry said.
'Given the even larger gap, further efforts will be required' from the non-utility private sector, Mr Hiroyasu Tokuda, director of the ministry's climate change policy division, told a news conference. -- REUTERS
