Japan's greenhouse emissions fall, recession bites

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's greenhouse gas emissions tumbled 6.2 percent last year in a new sign on Wednesday that recession is doing the job of cutting emissions while the world struggles toward a U.N. pact to combat climate change.

In Singapore, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries in Asia and the Pacific region to embrace green growth but predicted a new accord to slow global warming may not be easy at talks in Copenhagen from December 7-18.

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fell to 1.286 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the year to March 2009 from a revised 1.371 billion tonnes in 2007/2008, a record high.

The latest figure is closer to the Japanese government's promise under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol to limit emissions to 1.19 billion tonnes a year until 2012. Japan is the fifth biggest emitter after China, the United States, Russia and India.

"The figure suggests we're currently at levels sufficiently (low) enough to achieve the target," said Yasuo Takahashi, head of the environment ministry's climate change policy division.

"But we're not saying that we no longer need to carry out the emission-cut plans," he said of measures meant to curb rising temperatures and more droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, floods and rising seas.

The International Energy Agency has projected that the economic downturn may cut global emissions by up to 3 percent this year. Last month, the U.S. government projected a 6 percent fall in U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide in 2009.

Many experts say the declines may be only a brief respite from a rising global trend and that pressing economic problems may distract from Copenhagen. U.S. unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since 1983.

Clinton, addressing ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore which includes China and the United States, urged green investments to help create jobs.

CLEAN GROWTH

"We must cooperate to turn the threat of climate change into an opportunity for clean-energy growth," she said, urging plans that would lead to an "explosion of new investment and generate millions of new jobs."

And she called for continued resolve on Copenhagen. "We also need to remind ourselves that a final deal will not necessarily come quickly or easily," she said.

Disputes about distributing curbs on emissions among rich and poor nations, and on how to raise billions of dollars to fund the fight against global warming, have been roadblocks toward Copenhagen.

And many nations view President Barack Obama as central to unlocking a deal -- the United States is the only developed nation outside Kyoto, but the U.S. Senate is unlikely to agree legislation this year to cap emissions.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator John Kerry said he would try to outline a compromise climate bill "that will hopefully put us in a position to go to Copenhagen with a framework or outline of where the Senate will be heading in legislation."