Pressure on Japan grows to embrace green plans as CO2 levels rise

Japan's national CO2 emissions increased 2.7 per cent to 1.2 billion tonnes in the year to March, according to a study by the country's trade ministry.

The report said that the lack of renewables investment and the temporary decommissioning of various nuclear plants because of concerns over their vulnerability to earthquakes, had led to increased burning of fossil fuels.

Carbon produced by burning fuels still accounts for about 90 per cent of Japan's total emissions of global-warming gases, according to the report.

Japan is the fifth-highest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and the news has caused concern that the country will struggle to meet its pledge to cut its emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels by 2013.

The Japanese government has this year set out ambitious plans to transition to a low-carbon economy, committing to investing in global climate change funds, bolstering its solar energy capacity and delivering deep cuts in carbon emissions.

Last week, the government outlined one of the centrepieces of this strategy with the announcement of a national emissions trading scheme.

However, the scheme, which will follow a different model to that pioneered by the EU, attracted some scepticism from environmentalists after it was confirmed that companies will be able to set their own emissions targets, rather than have to adhere to a cap imposed by government.

Despite the voluntary nature of targets, two of Japan's biggest companies, Nippon Steel and Tokyo Electric Power, said they had not yet decided whether to sign up to the voluntary scheme.

According to a report by the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency, global CO2 emissions rose 3.1 per cent in 2007, with US emissions rising 1.8 per cent and China's output rising eight per cent year-on-year.