Isramart : Japan’s CO2 Emissions Fall as Recession Cuts Fuel Use

Isramart news:
apan, the world’s fourth-biggest energy user, said the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions fell 6.2 percent in the year ended March 31 after the recession sapped industrial output and consumption of oil and natural gas.

Emissions of heat-trapping gases including carbon dioxide declined to 1.286 billion tons from 1.371 billion tons a year earlier, preliminary data from the environment ministry shows. That’s a 1.9 percent increase from 1990.

Factories and power plants reduced operations in Japan, slashing crude oil imports by 4.1 percent and natural gas by 0.2 percent last financial year, according to the finance ministry. Electricity output, the main source of carbon pollution, fell 3 percent, including a 6 percent drop in generation from burning oil, gas and coal, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies.

“The rise or fall in emissions naturally correlates to economic growth,” said Satoshi Hashimoto, a senior climate- change researcher at Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo. “Whichever way the economy goes, there’s a tough road ahead for companies. When the economy is up, emissions rise. When it’s down, companies are short of money to invest in clean technologies.”

Japan, a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has pledged to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming by 6 percent from the 1990 level by 2012.

Output of carbon dioxide decreased 6.5 percent to 1.216 billion tons in the year ended March, up 6.3 percent from 1990, according to the environment ministry’s report. Methane emissions fell 2.1 percent to 21.9 million tons from last year.

Figures announced today don’t include United Nations- endorsed emission reduction credits, the ministry said. The Japanese government will revise the preliminary figures and submit a report to the U.N. by April 15 next year.

The following is a table showing Japan’s emissions of greenhouse gases for fiscal years starting April 1.