Gap Between Performance, Kyoto Goals Widens For Japan - Reuters

[hatrack]

TOKYO - Japan's greenhouse gas emissions rose 0.6 percent in the fiscal year to March as oil consumption for heating climed, taking it further from its Kyoto Protocol target to cut pollution, the government said on Tuesday.

Japan's Environment Ministry said preliminary data showed emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), were 1.364 billion tonnes in the fiscal year, reversing a slight decline in 2004-2005 and 14.1 percent above its Kyoto target. The increase may be a further blow to the global pact to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, as most European countries are lagging Kyoto targets, and may be an embarassment to Japan, where the pact was signed.

"To achieve its Kyoto target Japan needs a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme -- I think Japan can't succeed in its Kyoto target," said Kuniyuki Nishimura, director of the global warming research division of Mitsubishi Research Institute.

"The biggest factor for the rise was winter heating at homes and offices," a ministry official told Reuters, pointing to a winter that was the coldest in two decades.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38538/story.htm

[jdlh8894]

1. Talk about a bite in the &ss! n/t