Buildings are silhouetted against the setting sun in front of Mount Fuji in Tokyo December 2, 2009.Photo :Gary Hershorn
12-Feb-10
Risa Maeda- Reuters
TOKYO - A plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the heart of Tokyo, one of the world's biggest and richest metropolitan areas, may prompt political action on a stalled national effort. Tokyo city proper will set emission limits for 1,400 large factories and offices to meet by using technology like solar panels and advanced fuel-saving devices starting in April. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged to cut national greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 based on 1990 levels of 1.261 billion tonnes, deeper than a minus 6 percent goal over 2008-2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. Japan has already made strong strides in energy efficiency and combined with an economic slowdown has seen emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, fall 6.5 percent to 1.216 billion tonnes in the most recent fiscal year.
Big emitters like power plants, none located in Tokyo, are likely to respond to volume caps by spending on cleaner energy projects rather than relying on solely conservation or buying carbon credits, according to analysts. For oil consumption, Japan as the world's third largest oil importer, saw consumption fall 6.9 percent to 193 million kilolitres last year, a trend in place since 2006. To cut CO2 by 6 and 8 percent in Tokyo by any factory or office that uses 1,500 kilolitres of oil equivalent, respectively, in the next five years by contrast is a drop in the ocean at less than 500,000 kilolitres of oil equivalent.
If as planned the programme spreads wider nationally and evolves along with variants used elsewhere, it could be a new that thinking brings fresh ideas to global climate talks now stalled because of fierce debates over equity and scale, an academic said.
Risa Maeda- Reuters
TOKYO - A plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the heart of Tokyo, one of the world's biggest and richest metropolitan areas, may prompt political action on a stalled national effort. Tokyo city proper will set emission limits for 1,400 large factories and offices to meet by using technology like solar panels and advanced fuel-saving devices starting in April. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged to cut national greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 based on 1990 levels of 1.261 billion tonnes, deeper than a minus 6 percent goal over 2008-2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. Japan has already made strong strides in energy efficiency and combined with an economic slowdown has seen emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, fall 6.5 percent to 1.216 billion tonnes in the most recent fiscal year.
Big emitters like power plants, none located in Tokyo, are likely to respond to volume caps by spending on cleaner energy projects rather than relying on solely conservation or buying carbon credits, according to analysts. For oil consumption, Japan as the world's third largest oil importer, saw consumption fall 6.9 percent to 193 million kilolitres last year, a trend in place since 2006. To cut CO2 by 6 and 8 percent in Tokyo by any factory or office that uses 1,500 kilolitres of oil equivalent, respectively, in the next five years by contrast is a drop in the ocean at less than 500,000 kilolitres of oil equivalent.
If as planned the programme spreads wider nationally and evolves along with variants used elsewhere, it could be a new that thinking brings fresh ideas to global climate talks now stalled because of fierce debates over equity and scale, an academic said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment