CIG: Tokyo launches Asia’s first carbon trading scheme.

April 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Japans hopes of a national emissions trading scheme may still be entangled in political disagreement and confusion, but this has not prevented Tokyo from winning the race to launch Asia’s first carbon trading program, CIG sources report.

Tokyo recently kicked off its long awaited emissions trading scheme, which requires 1400 of the city’s most energy and carbon intensive organizations to adhere to legally binding emission targets similar to those in place in the European cap-and-trade scheme.

The schemes first phase, which CIG understands runs to the end of 2014 will require participating organizations to cut their overall carbon emissions by 6%.

Businesses and industries failing to operate within the laid down emission caps will have to purchase additional emission allowances to cover any excess emissions, or else invest in renewable energy certificates or offset credits issued by smaller businesses. The scheme does however stipulate that credits issued outside of Tokyo may not exceed one third of the required emission cuts of a particular company or industry.

CIG has learned that organizations failing to operate within the parameters of the scheme will face heavy fines as well as the possibility of being shamed by the government, and according to local reports these organizations could then be ordered to cut their emissions by 1.3 times the amount that they failed to reduce in the first phase of the scheme.

City representatives have indicated that the long term goal of the project is to cut the metropolis’ emissions by 25% on 2000 levels by 2020.

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