(Bloomberg) — Cabinet ministers in Japan approved a plan
to reduce greenhouse gases by 26 percent by 2030, a goal already
criticized by environmental groups as too timid and
statistically unsound.
The cuts, first unveiled in a draft in April, will use 2013
as a baseline. Acceptance of the draft report was announced by
Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki Tuesday in Tokyo. Final
approval will be sought after public comment.
Adopting 2013 as a starting point is contentious because
it’s a year when Japan recorded its second-highest emissions
level ever as it burned more fossil fuels to replace nuclear
power lost after the Fukushima meltdown.
“We know there are various opinions,” Mochizuki told
reporters. “We will explain our target to other countries to
gain their understanding.”
Were Japan to use 1990 or 2005, the base years for other
nations, it would leave the nation trailing the pack of richer
industrial nations working to rein in the pollution blamed for
global warming.
Japan aims to submit its pledges to the United Nations by
the end of July, according to Hiroaki Takiguchi, a ministry
official in charge of climate change.
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Jason Rogers at
Iain Wilson