Japan to step up co-operation with Europe over Kyoto Protocol

“We will have serious discussions with the EU about how to get the U.S. back on board,” Environment Ministry councillor Hironori Hamanaka told a Liberal Democratic Party meeting on the environment, the Japanese news service asahi.com has reported, just days before the next round of international climate change talks begins in Marrakech on 29 October.

Following the announcement by the UK that that the country is to set up emissions trading, Japan has also begun to consider setting up its own market in an attempt to reduce emissions. Recently, two trading simulations, involving nearly 60 companies have been set up in Tokyo. The companies involved have included electric power, automobile and steel companies, with many of the firms having previously having been opposed to regulated emissions trading. In one of the simulations, carbon dioxide was being sold on the virtual market for anywhere between 1,000 and 40,000 yen (between US$8 and US$325).

The emissions trading market in Japan could reach an annual level of $200 billion (24 trillion yen), according to one official.