TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Japan's steel makers aim to generate 5 million tonnes less carbon dioxide in 2020 than their forecast under a 'business as usual' scenario, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Thursday.
The reduction is based on an estimated crude steel output of 119.7 million tonnes in 2020, up 13 percent from last year, and will be mainly achieved by using used plastic for fuel, upgrading thermal power facilities and recycling heat from steel production, the country's main steel sector body said.
The announcement of a voluntary 2020 target by major polluters could put extra pressure on the government, which came to power in September and has since struggled to decide policy measures beyond one-off payouts to deepen CO2 cuts.
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas causing global warming.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government thinks a cap-and-trade scheme of CO2 allowances like the EU's is one way that Japan could meet a tougher 2020 goal than the 2008-2012 obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Japan has committed to a 6 percent cut in greenhouse gases as a whole on average from 1990 levels.
The steel industry is opposing any mandatory emission caps, arguing that their energy use per unit of production is already the lowest among steel producing countries like China.
'We do think we can achieve the goals and we want to contribute to emission reductions in Japan,' Shoji Muneoka, chairman of the federation, said at a news conference.
He is also the president of the world's second-biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp.
Japanese steel makers emitted 178.2 million tonnes of CO2 in the last financial year to March 2009, when their crude steel output fell 13.2 percent to 105.5 million tonnes from a year earlier due to a global recession.
The industry has set a voluntary target of cutting CO2 emissions by 9 percent over the five years to March 2013 from 1990/1991 levels of 200.6 million tonnes to help Japan meet its Kyoto obligations.
The steel industry has bought 56 million tonnes of Kyoto-backed carbon offsets for 2008-2012 delivery.
(Reporting by Risa Maeda, additional reporting by Yuko Inoue; editing by Sue Thomas)
((risa.maeda@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1856; Reuters Messaging: risa.maeda.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: STEEL/JAPAN CARBON (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The reduction is based on an estimated crude steel output of 119.7 million tonnes in 2020, up 13 percent from last year, and will be mainly achieved by using used plastic for fuel, upgrading thermal power facilities and recycling heat from steel production, the country's main steel sector body said.
The announcement of a voluntary 2020 target by major polluters could put extra pressure on the government, which came to power in September and has since struggled to decide policy measures beyond one-off payouts to deepen CO2 cuts.
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas causing global warming.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government thinks a cap-and-trade scheme of CO2 allowances like the EU's is one way that Japan could meet a tougher 2020 goal than the 2008-2012 obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Japan has committed to a 6 percent cut in greenhouse gases as a whole on average from 1990 levels.
The steel industry is opposing any mandatory emission caps, arguing that their energy use per unit of production is already the lowest among steel producing countries like China.
'We do think we can achieve the goals and we want to contribute to emission reductions in Japan,' Shoji Muneoka, chairman of the federation, said at a news conference.
He is also the president of the world's second-biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp.
Japanese steel makers emitted 178.2 million tonnes of CO2 in the last financial year to March 2009, when their crude steel output fell 13.2 percent to 105.5 million tonnes from a year earlier due to a global recession.
The industry has set a voluntary target of cutting CO2 emissions by 9 percent over the five years to March 2013 from 1990/1991 levels of 200.6 million tonnes to help Japan meet its Kyoto obligations.
The steel industry has bought 56 million tonnes of Kyoto-backed carbon offsets for 2008-2012 delivery.
(Reporting by Risa Maeda, additional reporting by Yuko Inoue; editing by Sue Thomas)
((risa.maeda@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1856; Reuters Messaging: risa.maeda.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: STEEL/JAPAN CARBON (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
