Isra-Mart srl:Japan buys carbon rights from Poland, nears target

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Isra-Mart srl news:

* Japan buys 4 mln tonnes of Kyoto offsets from Poland

* Payments not disclosed, to support energy-saving in Poland

* Japan still needs to buy 3 mln T to meet 100 mln T target

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Japan has agreed to buy emission rights from Poland equivalent to four million tonnes of CO2 under the Kyoto Protocol, the Japanese government said on Friday, moving close to its purchase target for 2008-2012.

The deal brings Japan's purchases of Kyoto emissions offsets to just below 97 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a trade ministry official said, nearing its target to offset 20 million tonnes a year over the five-year period, or 1.6 percent of annual reduction needed to meet its goal to cut emissions by 6 percent below 1990 levels during 2008-2012.

The official declined to disclose the price but said it was less than 10 euros ($13) per tonne and was lower than last year due to a slowdown in the global economy curbing demand for Kyoto carbon credits, which can be used to offset surplus emissions by almost 40 rich countries bound to the Kyoto Protocol.

Developed countries that are below their greenhouse gas targets under Kyoto can sell emission rights, called Assigned Amount Units or AAUs.

Payments for the latest deal will be used to support energy-saving projects in public buildings in Poland, a main AAU supplier which had hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 equivalent available as much of its polluting industry shut down after the overthrow of communism in 1989.

Japan, the world's fifth-biggest emitter, has also bought a total of 71.5 million tonnes of AAUs from the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Latvia.

It has also bought another type of Kyoto emissions offset called Certified Emissions Reductions or CERs from clean-energy projects in developing countries. [ID:nTOE63004P]

But deliveries of CERs are two to three million tonnes below initial projections, meaning Japan still needs to buy some three million tonnes to meet its target, the official said.

A U.N. panel that approves projects that yield CERs has rejected some clean-energy projects in developing countries or delayed approving them.

Separately, Japanese companies have bought over 340 million tonnes of Kyoto offsets from abroad to meet their self-pledged goals for emission cuts.

Japan is one of the largest buyers of Kyoto offsets.

Of the total of more than 400 million tonnes, about 250 million tonnes are CERs and the other 150 million tonnes or more are sovereign emissions rights from developed countries, another trade ministry official has said.