WWF charity officials are concerned that Japan is at risk of undermining its own commitment to reduce carbon emissions reductions of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 as using the ‘cap and trade’ scheme as agreed under the Copenhagen Accord framework. The climate bill is being lobbied against by industry labour unions who see the change as the possible cause of job loss, ignoring the fact that new jobs will be created in clean energy and other industrial sectors.
WWF-Japan’s Head of Climate Change, Naoyuki Yamagishi, said –
If the bill includes ‘intensity-based’ emissions trading schemes then it ignores the emissions cap that the Japanese government has promised to the Japanese people during the elections and to the world following the Copenhagen Accord. For the scheme to be called a ‘cap and trade’ scheme, it needs to have a real emissions cap.
Japan should not send wrong signals by making its action conditional on an international agreement. It will not only jeopardize the credibility of the Japanese target internationally but will also slow down domestic actions. There is no time to waste, and Japan needs to avoid locking itself further into development using environmentally and socially unsustainable technologies. The current language in the bill could be interpreted as Japan doing nothing to reduce emissions if there is no comprehensive international agreement.
With many governments promoting a carbon intensity framework rather than absolute targets, now is the time for the many ministries across the globe to stand up and be counted. An intensity based commitment would seriously undermine the Copenhagen Accord, with emissions increasing globally if this strategy is followed. Japanese groups are calling on the government to drop the clauses in the new bill that threaten Japan’s existing pledge to cut gas emissions by 25% by 2020, one of the most ambitious targets in the world.
WWF-UK’s Head of Climate Change, Keith Allott, said –
Japan’s 25% target is one of the strongest that any country has committed to so far. It should remain as an example to others; Japan should not chase everyone else in a race to the bottom, and to the disastrous climate impacts that will result.
