Japan casts aside Kyoto agreement: report

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan has effectively abandoned the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released Sunday.

Japanese industry groups have forced the government to drop mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto agreement, making it unlikely Tokyo will be able to meet its reduction targets, the Yomiuri newspaper said.

That didn't take long.

Here's the Yomiuri article.Scroll down to:

Greenhouse-gas measures delayed by industrial foes

Yomiuri Shimbun

Domestic measures to reduce greenhouse gases and prevent global warming in line with the Kyoto Protocol, which the government wants to ratify early next year, are making slow progress in the face of opposition from industrial and other circles.

The Central Environment Council, a government advisory body, has said in a report that, for now, industries will not be given any regulations to follow and, instead, will be allowed to combat gas emissions on a voluntary basis.

The government shortly will review the current outline of strategies to be implemented to fight global warming, but prospects are that it will be very difficult for Japan to reduce gas emissions by 6 percent from the 1990 level as dictated by the protocol.

At a meeting of the council's subcommittee dealing with domestic systems to reduce greenhouse gases, one member criticized the council report for not presenting anything that would directly reduce emissions, and said it was doubtful whether reductions of 6 percent could be achieved.

In the same report, the protocol's period for emissions reduction is broken down into three phases: 2002-2004, 2005-2007 and 2008-2012. Measures will be studied and implemented on a phase-by-phase basis.

For the consumer sector, the first phase will include measures such as printing the amount of gas to be emitted on receipts for the purchase of gasoline and other products to give consumers an idea of their consumption's contribution to global warming.

However, industry, which is responsible for 40 percent of all emissions, will be asked to devise its own methods to control and publicize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the first phase.

The initial plan to require them to report their emissions to the government has been scrapped, and the proposed environment tax has been postponed.

Even after the government expressed its desire to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, economic groups expressed caution about new measures to fight greenhouse gas emissions.

At a meeting of a relevant council of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry this month, a member representing such groups argued that global warming could not be battled by sacrificing the nation's economy.

Lawmakers, including former bureaucrats at the METI's predecessor International Trade and Industry Ministry, called the protocol "an unfair treaty written by people with no understanding of industry" at a Liberal Democratic Party committee on fighting global warming.

At a meeting of relevant council of the Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry this month, a member representing such groups argued that global warming could not be battled by sacrificing the nation's economy...Lawmakers called the [Kyoto] protocol "an unfair treaty written by people with no understanding of industry".

And there you have it in a nutshell:

The Kyoto Protocol is considered by the Japanese as nothing but a stupid, bogus, socialist scam -- hatched by jealous non-producing countries, who just want to hog tie the world's leading producers in a feeble attempt to play economic "catch-up."

Our government reps ought to also just come out and tell it like it is.

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