TOKYO - The man expected to become Japan's next prime minister said Monday his government will follow through on a campaign pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020.
It is a more aggressive goal than the previous administration's, which would have only cut emissions by about 8 per cent from 1990 levels.
"Japan's change in government will bring a major shift to our climate change policies, through international negotiations for the future of human society, and I want to begin in a way that is said to have made a major contribution," Yukio Hatoyama said at an environmental forum in Tokyo.
Hatoyama, who leads the Democratic Party of Japan, the landslide winner in last month's national elections, is expected to be chosen as the new prime minister next week.
One of his campaign promises was to cut greenhouse emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
Prime Minister Taro Aso's target matched pledges by other countries but was widely criticized as inadequate by environmentalists.
Greenpeace International's Climate Policy Director, Martin Kaiser, called the new pledge a "major step forward," but said it still fell short of the 40 per cent reduction needed from industrialized countries.
"This is a clear-cut signal to major world leaders, especially President Obama," Kaiser said in a telephone interview.
A U.S. Congress bill approved by the House of Representatives would cut emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020. That plan falls short of many other industrial countries' proposals, which use 1990 as a benchmark from which to cut emissions. According to EU data, U.S. emissions rose 15 per cent from 1990 to 2005. The bill is opposed by many Republicans, who have said it will raise energy costs and destroy jobs.
The 27-nation European Union has already agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 -- a number that could be increased to 30 per cent if other countries sign on.
The various emission targets set by the world's major economies are under scrutiny ahead of a December conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where leaders hope to forge a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which is about to expire.
One of the issues the Copenhagen conference will have to tackle is how -- and whether -- rich and poor countries will share the burden of reducing emissions. The Kyoto treaty set mandatory caps on emissions for 37 rich countries but made no demands on other nations.
Developing countries point out that industrialized ones are mostly responsible for past emissions and thus should shoulder most of the cuts. They also argue they are less able to weather restrictions on their growth and have asked for financial assistance in cutting their greenhouse gases. Wealthy countries, however, note that many developing nations now contribute significantly to emissions levels.
Hatoyama said the new Japanese government was considering whether to propose that richer countries provide financial and technical assistance in environmental areas to developing ones.
He also said if chosen as prime minister, he would attend a gathering of world leaders to discuss climate change at United Nations headquarters in New York on Sept. 22.
