Japan - Year Ending 3/07 Saw Increase In GHG Levels 6.4% Over 1990 Kyoto Target - Bloomberg

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's greenhouse gas emissions rose 6.4 percent in the year ended March from 1990 levels, forcing the government to quicken measures to ensure the country meets its Kyoto Protocol target.

Japan emitted 1.341 billion metric tons of gases including carbon dioxide and methane in fiscal 2006, according to a preliminary report today by the environment ministry. While the figure was 1.3 percent lower than a year earlier, it fell behind the nation's emissions reduction goal under the Kyoto Protocol.

Under the 1997 United Nations climate-change treaty, Japan pledged to cut annual average emissions by 6 percent starting April 2008 from levels in 1990. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's administration is meeting to decide on the implementation of measures such as the start of a carbon tax on fossil fuel use and the creation of emission trade.

Emissions of carbon dioxide fell 1.3 percent from the previous fiscal year. Still, the figure was 11.4 percent higher compared with the 1990 level, according to the report. The nation's carbon dioxide emissions reached 1.275 billion tons last fiscal year. Efforts by Japan's power utilities and steelmakers including Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Nippon Steel Corp. to boost purchases of carbon-emission credits have failed to bring down emissions levels.

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