2008-06-10

Japan Announces Trial Carbon Trade System, Ducks Interim Target. By Chisa Fujioka, Reuters, June 10, 2008. "Japan will start a trial system for carbon trade this year, [said] PM Yasuo Fukuda... [in a speech Monday one month before hosting a G8 summit], unveiling a climate change policy that set a goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions... 60-80% [from current levels] by 2050... [He will] announce an interim target sometime next year... Tokyo will also contribute up to $1.2 billion to a new multilateral fund with the U.S. and Britain [to] help developing countries fight global warming... The world's fifth-largest emitter, Japan estimates it can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 14% by 2020 from current levels, Fukuda said... Environmentalists, however, were disappointed... WWF chided Fukuda for setting the base year for reductions at current levels rather than 1990, as used by the E.U.... The opposition Democratic Party charged [Fukuda's] proposals fell short. 'The content is extremely meager,' said Democratic lawmaker Katsuya Okada, sponsor of a bill to set a mid-term [emissions] target... [of] 25% from 1990 levels. 'It is completely unclear how he will confront the G8 summit with such content.'"

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