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In shift, Japan to set post-Kyoto carbon cut goal: reports
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. Related Links Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Biomass Production - Careful Planning Can Bring Many Benefits
Gotenborg, Sweden (SPX) Jan 18, 2008One way of supplying energy is to grow plant material and burn it. If managed well most of the carbon released by burning the material will be captured by the growing plants, and so have a low impact on overall levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Better still, the growing plants could be used to help solve other environmental problems. |
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