Japan opposition eyes bolder CO2 cuts

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's main opposition Democratic Party says it will adopt bolder cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than the current government by using the global emissions market and increasing green jobs at home if it wins an upcoming general election as it looks likely to do.

Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to call an election for August 30, and the Democrats have their best ever chance of ousting Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, ending half a century of nearly unbroken rule by the business-friendly LDP.

The Democrat's vice policy chief, Tetsuro Fukuyama, said the party's 2020 target to cut Japanese emissions by 25 percent below 1990 would be met both by imposing restrictions and offering incentives to spur companies to invest in energy conservation, increase their use of renewable energy and develop green technology.

The party's goal would also be met by other measures, including buying carbon credits from emission cuts in developing countries, Fukuyama said in an interview on Wednesday.

"A minus 25 percent target by 2020 includes both domestic cuts and cuts from the rest of the world," Fukuyama said, adding that the division between the two would be decided later.

Fukuyama said he would keep a close eye on developments in the global carbon emissions market and discussions on a new U.S. climate bill, which would introduce carbon trading as a tool to help cut U.S. emissions by 17 percent below 2005 by 2020.

The target will be part of the party's policy manifesto, which it aims to release after parliament is dissolved, which is likely next week, he said.

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota)