Japan eyes reduced emission cut target following high fossil fuel usage: Official
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Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, which is the world's biggest, is seen from a seaside in Kashiwazaki. The earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 sent reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown and generated widespread distrust of a technology previously used to provide around a third of Japan's electricity. PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan may backpedal on its pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter, an official said Wednesday, dealing a further blow to already deadlocked global warming talks in Doha.
Tokyo in 2009 promised it would slash its planet-warming emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by the start of next decade - provided other major polluters such as China and the United States also make sharp reductions.
The target was one of the most ambitious of any industrialised country and won plaudits from environmentalists.
But officials say with a huge rise in the use of fossil fuels since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima put Tokyo's atomic energy programme on hold, the pledge will be difficult to fulfil.
