Bursík: Japan has still not set a reduction commitment, plans to expand carbon market
Minister Bursík held a series of meetings with representatives of the Japanese Government on a future climate protection agreement to be concluded in Copenhagen this December.
Environment Minister Bursík was accompanied to these talks by his Troika counterpart, the Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, who will replace him in July as President of the EU Environment Council, and by European Commission representative Nancy Kontou.
"Japan is one of the most important partners in international negotiations and a leader in low-carbon technologies. Therefore, it makes sense to focus our attention on this country." With annual emissions amounting to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, Japan is also the world's sixth largest producer of greenhouse gases.
Today, the European delegation held talks with, among others, the Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Takeo Kawamura, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito, the Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Sanae Takaichi, and the shadow Environment Minister for the Democratic Party of Japan Tomiko Okazaki.
In their negotiations, the ministers focused primarily on ways to solve the current global economic crisis and the climate crisis at the same time, i.e. how the world economy could be helped most effectively to make the transition to low-carbon, energy-efficient technologies. This will lead to the creation of new opportunities for the private sector and new "green" jobs. Such an about-turn will alleviate dependence on oil and gas from politically unstable regions and reduce the cost of energy.
A key issue in the talks was medium-term commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, which should be incorporated into the new climate agreement. The EU has already made the commitment of a 20% reduction compared to 1990 levels, and if a new agreement is signed it is determined to increase this commitment to 30%, in line with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicating that developed countries should be aiming for reductions by 2020 that are 25-40% below 1990 levels.
Japan has not yet made quite so much headway and is examining six possible scenarios (from +6% to -25%), one of which will be selected on the basis of analyses, with Prime Minister Aso keen to make an announcement by June this year. The EU and Japan agree on the need to involve the world’s two most significant world polluters, the United States and China, in future agreements. However, they hold differing views on emission reduction contributions, in particular from China, where Japan is proposing to introduce binding emission commitments based on the emission intensity of various industrial sectors.
In their conclusions of 2 March, EU environment ministers agreed to demand that developing countries, including China, introduce low-carbon development plans in order to slow the rapid growth of emissions in these countries by 15-30% by 2020 compared to the scenario expected if no reduction measures were to be implemented (business as usual).
The ministers also discussed the role of the carbon market. Japan, like the EU, has already introduced a domestic trading system for the largest industrial polluters, but the Japanese system is still at the testing stage and is based on voluntary participation by industrial enterprises. The Union aims to progressively interlink the individual domestic systems of OECD countries by 2015 and thus create a single global carbon market encompassing, by 2020, all the major industrial polluters – including developing countries. "The EU delegation is making preparations to visit the United States in order to discuss the interconnection of the future American federal trading system with the European system," noted Martin Bursík. Following today's meeting, Japan is very open to a possible future expansion of its trading system and to the interlinking of various national models.
On Sunday, Minister Bursík and the EU delegation will fly from Tokyo to Washington, where further talks will take place on Monday and Tuesday with key representatives of the new US administration. Minister Bursík will announce the results of the talks in Japan and the United States on his arrival in Prague on Wednesday 18 March. A press conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Continental Club at Prague Airport. Please confirm attendance by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday 17 March to Jitka Pilbauerová, jitka.pilbauerova@mzp.cz, 267 122 944, 602 658 892.
Contact:
- Jakub Kašpar, press officer, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic
- tel.: +420 267 122 040, GSM: +420 724 175 927; e-mail: jakub.kaspar@mzp.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:41
