Energy-use targets urged for emerging nations

Japan proposed Tuesday that binding numerical targets for energy saving be set for major emerging nations such as China and India under a new global framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The proposal, to be discussed in December at the 14th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, reflects Japan's efforts to come up with an approach to get the most nations possible on board.

But it is likely to draw opposition from developing nations, which are not obliged to carry out emission cuts under Kyoto.

According to the proposal, developing nations would be divided into three categories — those that should make further efforts to cut emissions due to their economic development, those that emit little but suffer from the impact of global warming, and others.

Government officials said that for the rapidly developing countries that play a significant part in global emissions, binding numerical targets on greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption should be set for industrial sectors such as transportation, power generation, and production of steel, cement and aluminum in accordance with conditions in each nation.

Binding targets for overall energy consumption and emissions per unit of gross domestic product should also be set, according to the proposal.

Progress and fulfillment of the targets would be monitored and verified by expert teams and data to be submitted to the COP meeting, which would also regularly review national plans provided by each country.

Meanwhile, other developing nations, including those that have extremely low emissions but are prone to the impact of global warming, would be encouraged to draw up national action plans to be submitted to COP for regular reviews. But no binding targets would be imposed, the officials said.

For developed nations, Japan proposes that national targets be set that commit them to cut emissions, as well as identify total emission amounts and reduction rates from various base years.

The proposal calls for a framework in which efforts by the respective signatory nations can be compared, such as sectoral data as well as cost performance.

The December U.N. meeting, known as COP 14, will be held in Poland. Member nations have agreed to aim to reach agreement on the post-Kyoto framework by the end of 2009.

Japan drew considerable criticism at a COP working-level meeting in Accra in late August with its proposal that countries determine potential emissions reductions for individual industrial sectors that would then be tallied for quantified national targets.

Japan and the United States have expressed concern that if developed countries are left to shoulder the responsibility for emissions reductions, their industries will become less competitive than those in poorer countries.

But some developing nations have argued that major industrial countries built their infrastructure by releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases in the past and that their infrastructure already provides them with a competitive advantage.

The developing nations also deem the proposed sector-by-sector approach as being unfair because it does not take into account greenhouse gases emitted by richer nations in the past.

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, sets binding targets for gas emissions by 37 industrialized countries and the European Union.

These amount to an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period between 2008 and 2012.

But many countries, including Japan, are falling behind schedule in achieving their respective obligations.

The U.S., the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, did not ratify the protocol. Developing nations China and India, seen as the fastest growing emitters, are not bound by the framework.