Japan Greenhouse-Gas Pledge Strengthened by Hatoyama (down 25% from 1990 levels by 2020)

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aYeFrGR5wNtE

Japan Greenhouse-Gas Pledge Strengthened by Hatoyama

By Takashi Hirokawa

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Prime minister-designate Yukio Hatoyama pledged to reduce Japan’s greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, a more ambitious target than made by outgoing premier Taro Aso’s administration.

The Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide election last week, will change government policy in line with an electoral pledge to cut heat-trapping gases by a quarter in 30 years, Hatoyama said today in a speech in Tokyo. The goal depends on other countries adopting similar targets, he said.

“Our country can’t stop climate change even if we achieve our reduction targets,” Hatoyama said in his speech. “The world’s leading nations must strive for an international framework that is fair and effective.”

In December some 190 countries are set to meet in Copenhagen to forge a new United Nations treaty to fight climate change because provisions under the existing Kyoto Protocol pact expire in 2012. Japan now may follow the lead of the European Union, which said it will increase its reduction pledge if other wealthy economies do likewise to set the world on a low-carbon growth path.

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