Japan eyes households, transportation in struggle to cut emissions

Japan should cut greenhouse gas emissions from households and transportation to meet carbon dioxide reduction targets required under the Kyoto global warming pact, the head of an environmental panel said Friday.

Japan is falling far behind in its struggle to meet its obligation under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent below its 1990 levels by 2012. It currently emits 14 percent more gases than in 1990.
Industrial emissions have remained flat, but emission of gases — primarily carbon dioxide — have soared up to 40 percent since 1990 in the services and household sectors, said Akio Morishima, the head of the government panel.

“We need to think about what to do in areas that were not previously regulated … like households and transportation,” said Morishima, chair of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.

International Herald Tribune