Tokyo officials are told to agree on carbon strategy

tokyo

Ishii: needs a strategy on CO₂ emissions. Credit: AP/SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI

Japan's Prime Minister, Ryutato Hashimoto, has called on senior ministers to sort out the country's policy on greenhouse gas emissions within two weeks, after growing international criticism of Japan's failure to make its position clear.

The vagueness of Japanese policy on reducing carbon dioxide emissions was criticized by Helmut Kohl, the German chancellor, at the recent meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations in Denver, Colorado. And there is increasing domestic concern about prospects for the United Nations climate change conference, to be held in Kyoto in December.

Last week, Hashimoto called on Michiko Ishii, head of the Environment Agency, Yukihiko Ikeda, the foreign minister, and Shizuka Kamei, acting minister of trade and industry, to come up with a strategy that will lead to agreement at the conference, at which more than 150 countries have already agreed to set legally binding emission reduction targets.

Ministers are expected to announce Japan's plans to deal with global warming at a cabinet meeting within the next few days. There have been widespread reports of disagreement between the pro-business Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Environment Agency about reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (Nature 387, 641 641; 1997).

Hironori Hamanaka, director general of the global environment department at the Environment Agency, denies there is a significant difference of opinion in the government. But he does not think Japan will have agreed reduction targets in time for an international preparatory meeting in Berlin next week.

Environment Agency officials also deny reports that Japan, together with Australia and the United States, is trying to persuade the European Union to withdraw its proposal for a reduction of 15 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions. Hamanaka says it is important for Japan to propose its own targets, but that a 15 per cent reduction is unrealistic.

Analysts in Tokyo think that without a revision to Japan's energy policy, it will be very difficult for the country to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at all. But international pressure on Japan is expected to mount in August when Germany's minister for the environment, Angela Merkel, visits Japan, and to intensify as the conference approaches.