Yesterday the local government of Tokyo,Japan passed a measure creating the nation’s first mandatory greenhouse gas caps and establishing an emissions trading system for 1,300 major businesses operating in the city, according to an AFP report.
The assembly of the world’s largest metropolitan area created targets for cuting emissions 25% below 2000 levels by the year 2020.
The measure will especially focus on business buildings in Tokyo, the emissions from which have increased 33% over the last 15 years, according to Satoshi Yamashita, director at Tokyo’s environmental policy planning section.
Actual emissions caps will be set later in the year. Yamashita said firms that fail to comply will face a penalty charge, or the city government will conduct emission trade for the delinquent firms and bill them.
Tokyo is responsible for about 5% of Japan’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
The entire nation could come under an experimental carbon trading later this year, as proposed by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Japan, which is the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is struggling to meet its target emissions cuts under the Kyoto protocol. The nation will host the Group of Eight summit on July 7-9, at which Fukuda has said he will press leaders towards a new agreement to curb global warming.
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