By Daniel Lavelle -14 September 2009 – Japanese Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama has stated that he will stick by his election promise to reduce Japanese carbon emissions 25 per cent off 1990 levels by 2020 provided other major emitters make similar commitments at the Copenhagen Conference.
“As a mid-term goal, we aim at a 25 per cent reduction by 2020 from 1990, based on the levels demanded by science to stop global warming,” said Mr Hatoyama at the Asahi World Environment Forum 2009 in Tokyo 7 September.
Mr Hatoyama, 62, who is scheduled to take over as prime minister on September 16 said: “Our nation will strongly call on major countries around the world to set aggressive goals.
The Japanese business lobby has already announced its objection to the cuts, which are substantially higher than the 8 per cent target announced by the outgoing Liberal Democratic Party during its electoral campaign.
According to on-line media reports, the peak industrial lobby (Kendairen) will submit a series of policy demands to the newly elected leader on 14 September as part of what is expected to be a concerted effort to relax the targets.
The Democratic Party of Japan has proposed a series of measures including national carbon trading scheme and feed-in tariffs, aimed at cutting carbon emissions by volume and boosting renewable energy capacity.