Tokyo City Government Will Go It Alone To Force Industry To Make GHG Cuts - AFP

[hatrack]

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's capital Tokyo is preparing to force industry to make big cuts in greenhouse gases, an official said Tuesday, taking the lead in a country struggling to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations.

Tokyo's outspoken governor, Shintaro Ishihara, has decided to go it alone and create Japan's first emissions cap system, an idea that has met resistance among some in industry and the central government. "If we don't make the efforts that we should right now, we would regret it after 20 or 30 years," Ishihara told business leaders in a meeting Tuesday. "I want all of you to play a role as leading companies to solve the problem," he said.

Ishihara's administration on Tuesday informed the Tokyo assembly, which is dominated by the governor's supporters, about its plan. It will be submitted to the assembly when its new session opens on June 10, said Katsunori Yano, an official at Tokyo's environment bureau. "Tokyo will target reducing greenhouse gas emission by a total of 25 percent by 2020 from the 2000 level," Yano told AFP.

Under a "cap-and-trade" system starting in 2010, the Tokyo government would require major businesses to reduce carbon emissions while creating an economic incentive by allowing the trade of emissions credits, Yano said. Once approved, Ishihara wants Tokyo to join the International Carbon Action Partnership, a group of countries and regions with mandatory cap and trade systems, he added.

EDIT

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXhGh7qqvEXqRO_zLuxSlcR2jOKw