Tokyo approves Japan’s first greenhouse gas curbs

Tokyo’s local government on Wednesday ordered Japan’s first mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and set up a carbon market, moving faster than the national government.

Tokyo’s metropolitan assembly approved plans to force 1,300 major businesses to cut emissions blamed for global warming by 25 percent by 2020 compared with 2000 levels.
The requirements will take effect in 2010 followed the next year by a carbon market — which gives businesses an incentive to go green by letting them buy and trade emission credits.

The action by Tokyo — which is the world’s largest city when including the metropolitan area — comes as Japan struggles to meet its commitments to cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

“This carries meaning not just for Tokyo but for all of Japan,” Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara told reporters after the assembly passed his plan.

AFP