Wednesday November 11, 2009
Japan greenhouse emissions fell 6.4% last yr - media
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese greenhouse gas emissions fell 6.4 percent to 1.286 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the last financial year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said on Wednesday, quoting a survey by the environment ministry.
The figure for global-warming gases in the first year of Japan's Kyoto Protocol obligations is in line with expectations for preliminary data to be announced by the ministry at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Wednesday.
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An airplane flies near a gas flare from a factory at Keihin industrial zone in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo in this June 10, 2009 file photo. Japanese greenhouse gas emissions fell 6.4 percent to 1.286 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the last financial year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said on Wednesday. (REUTERS/Toru Hanai/Files) |
For a graphic tracking Japan's greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, click http://r.reuters.com/reg88f
A steep fall in greenhouse gas emissions from a record 1.374 billion tonnes in 2007/2008 was widely expected as government data showed last month that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fuel fell 6.7 percent to 1.14 billion tonnes in 2008/2009.
It was the steepest fall on record as the world's No.2 economy shrank 3.2 percent.
In Japan, the world's fifth biggest emitter, CO2 emissions from burning fuel account for about 90 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
RECESSION CURBS EMISSIONS
The slide in CO2 emissions from burning fuel during the last financial year to March 2009 was due to a slump in economic activity which caused energy consumption by the industrial sector to decline 11 percent.
The run rate for Japan's nuclear plants was steady at a low 60 percent during the period compared with a year earlier. Nuclear power is carbon-free, accounting for 26 percent of total power output in Japan and plays a key part in the country's plans to meet its Kyoto goals.
Japan is committed under the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1.186 billion tonnes a year over the five years to March 2013, down 6 percent from 1.261 billion tonnes in 1990/1991, Japan's Kyoto base year.
The goals include 20 million tonnes a year of emissions rights that Tokyo plans to buy from abroad and spending at home on forest conservation to absorb an estimated 48 million tonnes a year.
Assuming these offsets are in place as planned, the country is allowed to emit as much as 1.25 billion tonnes.
(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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