tokyo

Japan's efforts to set a binding target for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions were set back last week when the three government ministries involved failed to agree on a joint position.

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto had asked the three ministries — the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Environment Agency and the Foreign Ministry — to agree on a target by the end of September.

But agency officials are still locked in negotiations (see Nature 387, 641; 1997), and it is widely believed they are unlikely to reach an agreement until the middle of October at the earliest.

Hashimoto wants Japan to take a strong stance at the review conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which takes place in Kyoto in December.

The Japanese government has already said it considers a European Union proposal for a 15 per cent cut from 1990 emissions levels by the year 2010 to be unrealistic.

In an interim report submitted to the prime minister last week, the Environment Agency proposed that emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases be cut by 7 per cent from the 1990 levels by 2010, and the Foreign Ministry suggested a 6.5 per cent cut. But MITI is said to want no reduction from 1990 levels.

At a joint council of a government advisory panel last week, MITI submitted a plan to cut carbon-dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 through doubling nuclear energy production and using alternative energy sources such as solar power.

MITI officials say further reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions beyond that level could seriously damage the economy, and an overall target as proposed by the Environment Agency would create major difficulties.

MITI's position is based on the fact that the measures required to reduce green-house gas emissions — such as reducing traffic in Tokyo — would require the complex revision of regulations over and above those concerning energy conservation.

The ministry has also clashed with the Environment Agency about whether to set a per capita reduction of greenhouse gases, favoured by MITI, or the flat-rate reduction that the Environment Agency wants.

With only two months left until the Kyoto meeting, which Japan is chairing, the delay is expected to attract criticism from other signatory nations which have been calling on Japan to clarify its reduction target.