Jun Arima, an official in the government’s economics trade and industry department, in an open session at Cancun bluntly stated that “Japan will not inscribe its target under the Kyoto protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances.”
Kyoto stop
The Guardian is concerned which is a good sign in itself:
The brief statement…. was the strongest yet made against the protocol by one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
“For Japan to come out with a statement like that at the beginning of the talks is significant,” said one British official. “The forthrightness of the statement took people by surprise.”
If it proves to be a new, formal position rather than a negotiating tactic, it could provoke a walk-out by some developing countries and threaten a breakdown in the talks. Last night diplomats were urgently trying to clarify the position. The move provoked alarm among the G77, the grouping of developing countries who regard the Kyoto protocol as the world’s only binding agreement on climate change cuts. Japan gave no reasons for making its brief statement on the second day of the talks, but diplomats said last night that it represented a hardening of its line. “Japan has stated before that it wants only one legal instrument and that it would be unfair to continue the protocol,” said one official who did not wish to be named.
China and Brazil led developing nations in saying Japan’s refusal to help extend the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions may halt work on a global accord to combat global warming.
A total of 37 developed countries, including Japan, ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, agreeing to set limits on fossil fuel emissions. The Kyoto accord expires in December 2012 and with no other agreement to replace it, delegates at the United Nation climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, say extending the protocol is crucial.
“The Kyoto Protocol is the very basis of the framework to address climate change through international cooperation,” China’s envoy, Su Wei told reporters in Cancun. “If the pillar is collapsed, you can guess the consequences.”
Tags: Cancún, climate change, IPCC, Japan, Kyoto Protocol, United Nation
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