Japan greenhouse gas emissions down for 3 years in row for 1st time

December 12, 2017

Tokyo- Japan has marked a greenhouse gas emission drop for three straight years for the first time on record, because nuclear reactors were restarted and the use of renewable energy increased, government data showed Tuesday.

In fiscal 2016, which ended in March this year, the emissions dropped 0.2 percent from the previous year to 1,322 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, logging the longest downtrend since the country began taking the data in 1990, the Environment Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The reactors put back into operation between 2015 and 2016 were the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, and the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.'s Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.

Among renewable energy sources, the amount of electricity generated by solar and wind power increased. As a result, the country's CO2 emissions declined.

But the emissions of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) substitutes rose due chiefly to an increase in the number of air conditioners that were disposed of without collecting CFCs.

Against this background, the overall greenhouse gas emissions decreased only slightly.

The government aims to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 3.8 percent from the fiscal 2005 level in fiscal 2020.

The fiscal 2016 emissions stood 4.6 percent below the fiscal 2005 level, achieving the targeted level as in the previous year. Jiji Press