Japan May Have To Buy 7X The Amount Of Carbon Credits As First Thought - Reuters

TOKYO - A lack of clarity on what compliance with the Kyoto Protocol will cost Japanese industry could stretch business goodwill to help the country honour its targets under the global warming pact.

Under Kyoto rich countries like Japan can meet their emissions targets by funding cuts in poor countries, getting carbon credits in return in a market worth well over US$2 billion last year.

To meet its Kyoto targets by 2012 Japan may need to buy as much as seven times more carbon credits than official estimates.

Japan has committed to cut its emissions by 6 percent versus 1990 levels by 2012, and the government has said it will meet less than a third of that by funding emissions reductions in poor countries, getting so-called carbon credits in return. "That is about 100 million tonnes," an official with the ministry of environment told Reuters. He declined to specify the volume it had purchased so far.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40262/story.htm

Japan will do what Europe will do. Nothing..

BTW, committment starts in 2008, not 2012