Japan is considering setting up its first market to trade in carbon dioxide emissions in a bid to speed up its compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, company officials said yesterday.
The Kyoto treaty, aimed at curbing global warming, allows countries and companies to buy credits from those with a surplus to meet their requirements to reduce emissions.
A group led by the state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Co has received the government go-ahead for emissions trading but is still discussing details, company officials said.
"We hope to establish a project such as an emissions-right exchange in the later half of the year," an official with the state-run bank said.
"We still need further analysis on issues such as government involvement and assessment of potential participants," she said, on condition of anonymity.
The official added that the market would reduce Japan's dependence on the EU's Emissions Trading System, which has become the world's major exchange for carbon emissions.
"With the project, we hope to stimulate emission rights trading in Japan," she said.
Japan, which hosted the 1997 meeting where the landmark Kyoto pact was drafted, is obligated to reduce its average annual emission volume of greenhouse gasses for next year through 2012 by 6 percent compared with 1990 levels.
But Japan's emissions rose eight percent in 2005 as its economy expands following a decade-long slump.
The US, the world's top polluter, and Australia are the only major developed countries that have rejected the Kyoto Protocol, arguing that it is unfair as thaty it does not address emissions by growing economies such as China.
The Japanese exchange would welcome Chinese, US and other foreign companies as domestic power companies and steelmakers are eager to buy their emissions allowances, the Nikkei Shimbun said.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, countries can obtain credits by reducing emissions in nations that are not part of the deal.
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