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Tag: Carbon Powder TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is still undecided whether to adopt a cap-and-trade system which binds industry to mandatory greenhouse gas emissions limits, as a Japan-hosted July meeting of Group of Eight leaders nears.Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may be keeping his powder dry, to unveil a set of new climate measures at that G8 meet, as countries negotiate a climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.Japan, the world's fifth biggest emitter, has said it will, along with other major emitters, agree to a quantified target in a framework after 2013 if a target is fair and equitable.Three separate government panels of professors, experts and industry officials have been discussing new green policy measures, as Prime Minister Fukuda pledged in January, and which could include a shift beyond the current voluntary pledges by major industries.Proponents of a similar cap-and-trade scheme as in Europe say forcing major carbon-emitting installations to buy emissions permits would put a price on carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.But sectors including steel makers argue such a scheme would penalize them unfairly and instead want incentives to develop "revolutionary" low-carbon technology.Chairman of a government sub-committee on climate policy measures, Akio Morishima, said on Wednesday it was still at the planning stage so any proposal is welcome, in particular from opponents of carbon trading.On Wednesday the sub-committee listed a range of views from its members in a report to its parent committee headed by Hiroshi Okuda, the prime minister's special adviser on global warming and Toyota Motor Corp's senior advisor.
  2008-05-23 09:38:54