Japan sees no progress on new CO2 schemes in Durban

TOKYO | Wed Oct 19, 2011

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan does not expect climate delegates to come to any conclusions in South Africa next month on how to include new emission-cut schemes in rich countries in a new global climate deal, a government official said on Wednesday.

Japan wants to use a new type of carbon offset through bilateral agreements with countries in Asia from January, 2013, to supplement the U.N.'s emission-cut efforts, the official said, reiterating Tokyo's stance on developing an alternative to the U.N.'s carbon market.

Japan is aiming to help Asian countries carry out commitments agreed at a Mexico summit last year, start talks on a new climate framework and ensure actual emission cuts beyond the end of 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol ends.

"We, as the government, don't have a pre-fixed position in terms of when to agree (on a new climate framework), like 2015 or 2018," the official said.

Japan, the world's fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, wants to encourage developing countries to use its technology to achieve emission cuts, like energy-saving in the manufacturing sector, which Tokyo says is rarely used under the Kyoto Protocol's existing emission-offset schemes.

Tokyo is also hoping that the offsets generated from potential bilateral agreements would help it to meet a pledge to cut its emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Japan has held bilateral talks with eight countries in Asia -- Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand -- with a range of subsidized feasibility studies under way by Japanese companies over such low-carbon and offset projects mainly in Asia.

Japan has so far maintained the 2020 target it announced in 2009 although the Fukushima nuclear crisis in March forced Tokyo to work on a comprehensive review of its previous energy and climate policy, with a new one expected by next summer.

Power utilities, which account for about 30 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions in Japan, burned more fossil fuels than planned this year to make up lost output amid safety concerns since the world's worst radiation leakage in 25 years.

Yet, Japan has also maintained its goal under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions by 6 percent on average over the five years to 2012 from the 1990 levels.

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; editing by James Jukwey)