Japan’s recently elected premier, Yukio Hatoyama, has proposed that the country reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels within 10 years. But Hatoyama, of the center-left Democratic Party, said his proposal is contingent on other industrialized nations setting similarly high greenhouse gas reduction targets. Hatoyama said he would push for such cuts at climate talks this December in Copenhagen. The European Union has promised to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels in the next decade and by 30 percent if other wealthy nations agree to similarly sharp cuts. The incoming premier’s proposal, first made as a campaign pledge, is encountering stiff opposition from Japanese industry, with the country’s largest business federation saying it opposes any cuts bigger than six percent below 1990 levels. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is reportedly considering placing a carbon tax on gasoline and home heating oil. His proposal reportedly will start at 14 euros ($20) for each ton of CO2 emitted and rise eventually to 100 euros ($143) per ton.
Japan’s Incoming Premier Vows Sharp CO2 Cuts — With Caveat
More From E360
-
Solutions
In Seawater, Researchers See an Untapped Bounty of Critical Metals
-
INTERVIEW
Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger
-
Solutions
In a Dammed and Diked Mekong, a Push to Restore the Flow
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining