TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's steelmakers went on the offensive Tuesday against a new plan by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to force industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying it would hurt the economy.
Defying parts of the business community, Fukuda on Monday announced a so-called "cap-and-trade" system that restricts emissions blamed for global warming and provides an economic incentive by trading emissions credits.
Fukuda said the system will go into experimental use this autumn as part of a long-term goal for Japan to slash carbon emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 from current levels.
The Japan Business Federation, the country's powerful lobby that represents major companies, was cautious on Fukuda's plan.
"Regarding a carbon trading market, we hope that discussions take place incorporating opinions from the business community," said the federation's chairman Fujio Mitarai, who is also president of Canon Inc.
The Japan Iron and Steel Federation voiced alarm.
If emissions caps are made tougher, Japanese businesses will have no choice but to buy carbon credits overseas, Shoji Muneoka, chairman of the steelmakers' federation, said in a statement.
"At the same time, it would prompt off-shoring of production plants to developing countries, leading to an increase in emissions at the global level and reversing efforts to tackle global warming," said Muneoka, president of Japan's largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp.
Some environmentalists, in turn, have accused Fukuda of not going far enough in the plan, which was launched weeks before Japan hosts the summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.
UN scientists have warned that unless human-made climate change is halted, the world risks more natural disasters and droughts, putting millions of people at risk.
The European Union has a flourishing carbon market as part of efforts to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, which mandates rich nations cut emissions by an average of five percent by 2012 from 1990 levels.
But lawmakers of US President George W. Bush's Republican Party last week blocked efforts to introduce a cap-and-trade system in the world's largest polluter, saying it would hurt the economy at a time of soaring oil prices.
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