Japan Opposes Extension of Kyoto Accord, Clouding Cancun Talks

Japanese officials say they will oppose an extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, calling the treaty “outdated” because it covers only 27 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking at international climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, a senior Japanese official told Bloomberg that his nation wants a new global framework that includes all major emitters, including the U.S. and China. Failure to extend the protocol could threaten the world’s second-biggest market for emissions credits; the protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, which helps nations meet emissions targets, was worth $2.7 billion last year. While Japanese officials have suggested before that they would take this stance, it nonetheless had a dampening effect on the talks in Cancun, where international leaders are trying to establish a framework for the successor to Kyoto. “The fate of the Kyoto Protocol is going to cast a shadow over what we’re trying to do here on all the other building blocks of a climate agreement,” said Jake Schmidt of the Natural Resources Defense Council.