Japan is seeking to export low-carbon technology and equipment to nine mostly Asian countries in exchange for “right-to-pollute” credits, a press report said yesterday.
The Japanese government has already reached basic agreements with Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and India on such deals and plans to start talks soon with Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China and Peru, the Nikkei Shimbun said.
It will initially provide financial and technical help to 15 projects in which Japanese firms will export energy-efficient technology and equipment to these countries, the report said. The 15 projects include forest preservation, geothermal power and energy-saving technologies in homes and in industry, it said.
Japan emits some 1.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. The 15 projects, when fully implemented, are expected to cut 5 million to 10 million tonnes worth of emissions.
The deals will be made in keeping with a “bilateral offset mechanism” which was reached during the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December last year. This is the first time Japan will make use of the anti-global warming scheme, Nikkei said.
Indonesia will host four projects, with Mitsubishi Corp building a geothermal power plant and electric power wholesaler J-Power building a high-efficiency coal-fired power plant, the daily said.
Among other projects, Marubeni Corp and Tokyo Electric Power will build an advanced-technology coal-fired power station in Vietnam to obtain an annual credit worth 500,000 tonnes.
Nomura Research Institute plans to take part in a project to promote the construction of eco-friendly houses in China.
Japan, Asia’s biggest economy, has pledged to cut greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, provided other major emitters also make sharp reductions, one of the most ambitious targets of any industrialized country.
However, since UN climate talks have stalled, Japan is hoping that contributions to cut greenhouse gas emissions abroad will produce carbon credits to offset emissions at home over the next decade as an alternative to the UN’s existing complex carbon market.
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