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UN urges Japan to claim climate leadership

19 February 2008

Japan is being urged to press for ambitious midterm emissions targets at the forthcoming G8 summit near Lake Toya in Hokkaido, northern Japan in July.

The executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer told journalists in Tokyo that Japan must work to broker a consensus among rich nations on 2020 targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

"As chair of the G8, Japan could lead the discussion by moving forward on ambitious midterm targets," he said.

"The world, especially the private sector, is looking for clarity on this."

Mr de Boer said industrialised countries were already in broad agreement that cuts of 25-40 per cent based on 1990 levels were needed by 2020.

"The challenge will be to see if the G8 summit under the Japanese presidency can identify where the G8 countries want their emissions to be in 2020," he said.

Japan has rejected a binding EU-backed emissions target beyond 2012, when the Kyoto protocol expires.

Japan has the world's second biggest economy and is a major emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology said the US must make cuts of 88 per cent, with EU states making 83 per cent cuts.

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