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Firing the politicians would be a good start..
Posted on 05/24/2007 8:58:40 AM PDT by libertarianPA
TOKYO - Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 on Thursday as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the proposal at a conference on the future of Asia and plans to present it at the upcoming summit of industrialized nations in Heiligendamm, Germany, in June.
The initiative calls for close cooperation between developing and developed nations to piece together a comprehensive global warming pact to take effect in 2013, after the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases expires.
"We must create a new framework which moves beyond the Kyoto Protocol, in which the entire world will participate in emissions reduction," Abe said at a dinner banquet at a Tokyo hotel.
The proposal also called for increased aid to developing nations to boost energy efficiency, technological innovation to reduce emissions, development of renewable energy sources such as solar power, and expansion of nuclear power.
Before the speech, Japanese officials said the 50 percent reduction target was nonbinding and was a general "vision" rather than an ironclad goal.
Indeed, Abe's proposal was short on specifics. It offered no base year for emissions to be cut from. His vow to create a special Japanese fund to help developing countries cut emissions included no pledges of specific amounts of money.
"We are not trying to tie countries down to a specific position," said Koji Tsuruoka, the Foreign Ministry's director general for global issues.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed in Japan in 1997, requires some 35 industrialized nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Under the pact, Japan — home to the world's second-largest economy — was required to make a 6 percent cut.
Abe, however, said the Kyoto agreement had limitations. The United States refused to join, arguing it would cost millions of U.S. jobs, and objecting that up-and-coming polluters such as China and India were not required to make emissions cuts.
Japanese officials have expressed reservations about setting specific targets in the early stages of negotiations for fear of discouraging major emitters — such as the United States — from participating.
"I think opinion is divided on whether it is easier to participate by setting a numerical target or whether it is easier without it," Foreign Minister Taro Aso said earlier this week. "We need to make sure that major emitter nations ... will take part."
Recent climate change discussions have focused on what kind of a pact should follow Kyoto in 2013. Proponents of emission cuts have pushed for discussion of a post-Kyoto pact at the June 6-8 Group of Eight summit in Germany and a climate change conference scheduled for December in the Indonesian island of Bali.
Abe said the next pact should be flexible, strike a balance between environmental protection and economic growth and promote advancements in low-carbon technologies.
Japan is struggling to meet its Kyoto commitments. The country currently emits 14 percent more greenhouse gases than it did in 1990. The government plans a major overhaul of its emissions reduction campaign to meet its targets.
Still, Japan has made important gains. Energy efficiency has improved by 37 percent the past 30 years, and oil consumption has decreased by 8 percent even though GDP has doubled, Abe said.
The Japanese proposal comes amid heightening concern worldwide over climate change, which has already altered bird migrations, brought earlier springs in temperate climate zones and bleached tropical coral reefs with warmer sea water.
Delegates from 120 countries endorsed a report earlier this year stating the world has the technology and wealth to act decisively in time to avoid a sharp rise in temperatures that would wipe out species, raise oceans and trigger economic havoc.
Along with their GDP.
That’s easy to do when you don’t allow immigration and your population is in terminal decline due to low fertility rates.
Japan proposes halving emissions by 2050
Nice PR, now they can say they are working on it and do nothing for a generation.
We should say we will half by 2100 and then move on.
Exactly - it’s easy for them since they anticipate only having half of their present population at that point.
Japan is headed for a population crash, if they haven’t already passed the point of no return. Heck, the teenagers don’t even *want* to have sex now.
By forcing half their population to commit sepuku and then throwing their bodies into the sea.
In other news Japan has decided they no longer want first world status and are seeking to be designated as a third world hell hole.
Why stop there. Let's go for reducing by 3/4 by 2010 and then ignore it like every one of the western countries that signed Kyoto. Kyoto is a scam to placate the gore worshippers.
gwping
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
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