Japan is set to start discussions on letting private companies buy and sell greenhouse gas emissions credits, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said on Sunday

TOKYO, Japan; August 6, 2007.- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 but Japan is struggling to meet its own target of cutting emissions by 6 percent by 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol’s first phase ends.

The Environment Ministry is expected to propose starting a domestic transfer system for greenhouse gas emissions credits sometime this month, arguing that Japan should follow a growing global trend, Yomiuri quoted sources as saying.

The European Union adopted such a system in 2005 and late last month, the Australian Climate Exchange launched a new climate trading platform.

Officials at the Environment Ministry were not available for comment.

Japan’s most powerful business lobby, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) has strongly opposed introducing a carbon trading system, saying that it would be impossible to fairly allocate the credits.

Japanese business groups have dragged their feet on other energy proposals, such as a carbon tax, out of concern for their economic impact.

But Japan’s emissions were 14 percent above its Kyoto goal as of March 2006.

(Reuters)

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