Japan Press Weekly

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2008 March 12 - 18 [ENVIRONMENT]

Japan fails to drum up support for its proposal on global warming

Japan failed to drum up support for its proposal on measures to prevent global warming at the meeting of environment and energy ministers of the Group of 20 countries.

At the meeting held in Chiba City on March 15-16, the Environment Minister Kamoshita Ichiro proposed a “sectoral approach” as a framework method for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is intended to demand that greenhouse gas-emitting nations require each industrial sector to set a near-term target for cutting emissions and add up all these target numbers to form a national target.

The ministers agreed that Japan’s proposal would need further discussions because many countries argued that the proposal cannot be a viable alternative to quantified national targets.

Without expressing its mid-term targets, the Japanese government insists on a sectoral approach method and neglects scientifically proved studies urging all nations to greatly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Concerning the post-Kyoto Protocol framework for climate change that should go into effect in 2013, the G20 ministers agreed that developed nations should take the initiative in cutting emissions and support developing countries, and confirmed that developed and developing countries have common but different responsibilities.

This conclusion will be transmitted to the July G8 summit due to be held in Hokkaido.

At the news conference held after the talks, Ayukawa Yukari, member of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Japan, an environment NGO attending the talks, said, “Japan’s leadership is to display its mid-term target to reduce emissions to 6 percent below the 1990 levels required by the Kyoto Protocol.”
- Akahata, March 17, 2008