Environmental legislation hit as Kyoto Protocol is rejected

The future of the Kyoto Protocol hangs in the balance as Japan has rejected proposals to extend the environmental legislation.

At a meeting on Monday (May 4th) between Japanese environment minister Sakihito Ozawa and European commissioner for climate action Connie Hedegaard, Japan refused to extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol climate treaty past its 2012 expiration.

Speaking on the pact, which places obligatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions by its 37 nation members, Mr Ozawa said: "The option (of extending the treaty) is not possible."

Japanese businesses opposed a successor treaty beyond 2012, saying that it would place a huge burden of capital investment on Japan.

They have instead called for a new system to replace the pact that would mandate the reduction efforts of all major greenhouse gas emitters.

Currently, two of the world’s greatest emitters, the US and China, are not members of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto agreement places binding targets on its members, committing them to cut their 1990 levels by an average of five per cent from 2008 to 2012.

Posted by Joseph Hutton