Climate change panel calls for ambitious goal for Japan

A government climate change panel has asked Japan to formulate an ”ambitious” medium-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a proposal submitted to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, but it stopped short of offering a specific figure. Not only the industry but the public, too, should ”broadly bear an appropriate share” of costs to realize a low-carbon society, the panel said. They also stressed the need to make a system that would make ordinary citizens and companies ”understand that carbon emissions, which have been thought of as free of charge until now, require environmental costs.” Based on the proposal, the government hopes to compile an action plan that includes detailed measures, Fukuda told reporters. Meanwhile, the panel also called for Japan to implement emissions trading on a trial basis and attain a 6080% domestic long-term reduction target by 2050 from current levels — proposals in line with Fukuda’s new climate change initiative which was unveiled in early June.(June 17, 2008)