Japan proposes sector-based emissions target

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has proposed that major emitters of greenhouse gases assign near-term emissions targets for each industrial sector, which added up would then form a national target, a foreign ministry official said on Monday.

Some 200 nations launched in Bali in December two-year, U.N.-led talks for both rich and developing nations to agree a global agreement to fight climate change to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

Japan on Monday laid out proposals which could put it on a collision course with Europe, days ahead of the official start of the new round of climate talks at a meeting in Bangkok from 31 March to 4 April.

Japan's plan, seen more palatable to industries at home which have balked at binding national targets, would encourage companies to adopt energy-efficient technologies in a "bottom-up" approach which jars with that of Europe.

The European Union wants developed countries to agree national greenhouse gas emissions targets which industry must then adhere to.

But the foreign ministry official declined to say when Japan would present its own near-term emissions reduction target, although it has proposed a global target to improve energy efficiency by 30 percent by 2020 without citing a base year.

Japan hosts a meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in July, where they are expected to discuss 2020 emission targets among other issues.

Other proposals for the post-Kyoto framework Japan has made include the following:

-- A new emission target should be set to make clear the responsibility of each country.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union is allowed to set an emission cut target for the whole party, instead of that for each nation.

-- The base year should be reviewed from the perspective of fairness. Under the Kyoto Protocol, former communist countries saw their emissions crash after 1990, making it easy for them to reduce emissions from the 1990 benchmark.

-- The world should share a long-term path of emissions reductions which should be a non-legally binding, shared vision. Near-term measures for peaking out emissions and long-term measures for halving them by 2050 should be considered, in a manner enabling global cooperation.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka, Risa Maeda)