Hatoyama declares 25% greenhouse gas emission cut from 1990 level

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Hatoyama declares 25% greenhouse gas emission cut from 1990 level

At the meeting on the issue of global warming held on September 7 in Tokyo, Democratic Party of Japan President Hatoyama Yukio said that the new government will change the Japan's mid-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the target of 25% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 from the 1990 level.

After his nomination to become the next prime minister, Hatoyama will announce the revised Japan's mid-term target at the U.N. Climate Change Conference to be held on September 22 in New York.

Prime Minister Aso Taro in June proposed Japan's mid-term target of a 15% cut in greenhouse gas emission from the 2005 level (8% decrease from the 1990 level). Due to the business circles' pressure, the Aso government announced the target of a 6% reduction by 2012, which is a requirement of the Kyoto Protocol. Many countries criticized the target as counter productive.

Hatoyama's 25% reduction target is still less than the target of a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions called for by the Japanese Communist Party and numerous environmental NGOs, but it will nonetheless cause a major change in government policy.

This move is drawing the international community's attention because it is expected to provide an impetus for meaningful negotiation working for the new international accord on global warming after 2013, with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of this year.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) strongly opposes increasing Japan's mid-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Although Environment Minister Saito Tetsuo on September 8 said to reporters, "I highly welcome the new government's attitude towards global warming," he criticized the DPJ's election promise to abolish the extra tax rate on gasoline and other road-related taxes and to reduce or eliminate expressway toll as this will cause an increase in CO2 emissions. "It is impossible to achieve both goals," Saito said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura Takeo expressed his view that Hatoyama's target is impracticable and said, "In reality, how does the new government propose to solve various problems? They need to rethink their position."

Industrial Minister Nikai Toshihiro also said, "Hatoyama's target is really difficult to reach."

- Akahata, September 9, 2009