Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions hit a record high making Japan the world’s fifth-largest CO2 producer and putting them at risk of an embarrassing failure to meet its Kyoto target over the next four years. The increase of 2.3 percent last year was largely due to the closure of Japan’s biggest nuclear power plant after an earthquake.
Emissions rose to 1.371 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent in the Japanese fiscal year through March. The year before Japan finally saw a decline of 1.3 percent decline. Japan needs to cut emissions by an estimated 13.5 percent to hit its 2008-2012 target under Kyoto of down 6 percent from 1990 levels.
The task of cutting emissions may be its worst since the onset of a global recession, a diversion of governments’ focus away from climate change the investment needed.
Japan is not going to make their goal.