JCIA mulls reply to Japan PM's new emissions plan

10 June 2008 17:21  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--The Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) was considering making an official comment about Japan’s new target for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions unveiled by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, an association spokesman said on Tuesday.

However, JCIA did not have a specific plan yet to release a statement, he added.

Fukuda said during his speech at the Japan National Press Club on Monday night that the country aimed to cut GHG emissions by 60-80% from the current level by 2050.

The government also planned to begin emissions trading tests in Japan by autumn “with as many participating companies and industries as possible”, Fukuda said.

The plan, dubbed “Fukuda Vision,” came a month ahead of the country’s hosting of the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido’s Lake Toyako area in July.

In October JCIA revised its target for the chemical industry’s “basic unit for energy” to an average of a 13%-cut a year for five years from fiscal 2008 to 2012, ending March 2013, compared with the fiscal 1990 level.

It serves as the industry’s role in the Nippon Kendanren-led Voluntary Action Plan, which is participated by different industries to tackle global warming.

JCIA had set a goal in 1997, the initial year of the action plan, to improve the basic unit for energy by 10% a year.

The basic unit for energy is the total amount of energy consumed to manufacture a product. The smaller the unit is, the better the production efficiency, reducing emissions.

Asked if JCIA would further increase the basic unit target, the spokesman said the association was undecided.

According to the Environment Minstry, Japan’s level of GHG emissions in fiscal 2003 was 8.3% more than in 1990, the base year, as stated on its website.

This was a gap of 14% compared with the target Japan promised at the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 to reduce emissions by 6% from the 1990 level by 2010, it said.

With the current measures taken by the country, before the new goal was set by Fukuda on Monday, Japan would have emitted 6% more greenhouse gases in 2010 than in 1990, it added.

According to the ministry, the country emitted a total of 1.3bn tonnes of GHGs in fiscal 2006, which ended in March 2007.

Of the total, 642.9m tonnes were emitted by the “specified industries (or businesses)” which emit large amounts of GHGs and are required to report figures to the ministry.

Of the specified industries’ total, the chemical industry - excluding plastic moulding and rubber producers - emitted 91m tonnes, which accounted for 15.1%, the second largest emitters after the iron and steel industry, ministry statistics showed.

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By: Tomomi Yokomura
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