JAPAN-ENVIRONMENT: Tokyo Airs New Greenhouse Gas Formula

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Sep 12 1997 (IPS) - Under pressure to take a leadership role in upcoming talks on climate change, Japan is firming up a proposal for targets to be followed by industrialised countries in the reduction of harmful greenhouse gases.

Last week, the Japanese media reported that government officials are moving toward suggesting that developed countries reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to 5.0 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2010.

Officials at the Environment Agency stress that the 5 percent figure is not yet a definite position of the government. “Yes, it is important to come up with a figure as soon as possible. But there is a lot to discuss before the government can decide,” said one official at the agency’s global warming section.

Still, the ‘Asahi Shimbun’ recently reported that the government of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is poised to approve the 5.0 percent formula by the end of September.

The five percent proposal, which comes amid mounting criticism by environment groups and media of Japan’s weak position, is being conceived as a compromise formula to bridge conflicting positions by the United States and the European Union.

The European Union is seeking agreement in the Kyoto conference on its call for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse emissions by 15 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2010.

The United States, the largest source of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, is a bitter opponent of this target. It suggests that each country decide on its own goal, depending on its own needs and the state of its economy.

Negotiations on these targets are being undertaken in the run- up to the third meeting of parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Kyoto.

Under that convention, developed countries pledged to return carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. But new, stricter targets are being negotiated because the 1992 commitments are far too weak to make a difference.

As host at Kyoto, Japan is expected to make a strong contribution to getting the industrialised world to take meaningful action to cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases, of which carbon dioxide is the leading one. It also faces the challenge of striking a balance between the positions of developed and developing countries.

But activists say Japan’s powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry opposes any clear targets for reduction of carbon dioxide, because it is difficult to set a figure against the backdrop of growing energy needs in both the home sector and industry.

Particularly telling is the fact that Japan’s emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by 8.3 percent in 1995 over 1990 levels. Japan, which emits three tons of carbon dioxide per capita per year, is the second largest producer of greenhouse gases after the United States.

With only 20 percent of global population, industrialised countries account for 20 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide production.

‘Asahi Shimbun’ reported that Tokyo came up with the 5.0 percent target after unofficial discussions with the EU, which reportedly made it clear it would not tolerate emission cuts of less than five percent below 1990 levels.

But while environmental groups welcome the fact that the Tokyo seems to have ended its foot-dragging on the issue, they say the proposed 5.0 percent goal is a big disappointment.

“For one thing this target will help the US, a country that must be curbed, to come up with almost nothing,” said Ayako Okubo of People’s Forum 2001, a non-governmental organisation. “It is really worrying, when scientists have long pointed the growing urgency of the problem.”

Experts say greenhouse gases emitted from fossil fuel plants, for instance, are trapped in the earth’s atmosphere and warm the planet. Rising temperatures are projected to cause disruptive climate changes around the world, including sea-level rises that will inundate low-lying areas like the South Pacific islands.

These concerns led to the signing of the U.N. convention on climate change. It spells out responsibilities by both industrialised countries and developing nations, whose own emissions are fast rising.

But clearly, experts say the bigger burden lies on the developed countries that produce the most greenhouse gases, to undertake drastic cuts in the emission of such gases. Green activists hope the Kyoto conference produces a protocol that contains such commitments.

But with major players like Japan and the European Union reportedly agreeable to a small five percent reduction, NGOs say activists must wage a harder battle to get significant results in the December meeting.

Okubo says Japan’s commitments on climate change should also include policies that encourage less use of automobiles and energy, and research and investment in less pollutive sources of energy.

Right now there are mispriorities, she pointed out. For instance, she said 75 percent of a government-supported fund for climate-related measures, equivalent to 15 percent of the national budget, has been spent on road construction. Forestry and nuclear power generation accounted for little more than 10 percent and 4 per cent respectively.

Some favour a carbon tax proposed by the Environment Agency, but this faces heavy resistance from most Japanese industries. Industry is responsible for 40.3 percent of Japan’s greenhouse gas releases and household emissions, 16 percent.

NGOs are also pressing Japan and industrialised countries to extend more financial and technical aid to developing countries keen to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The govenment should also help countries develop renewable energy and promote energy efficiency, says Yasuko Matsumoto of Greenpeace Japan.

Press reports also say the Japanese government is expected to propose that developing nations set their own plans for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, in exchange for aid priority from donors like the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.