JAKARTA — With the much-awaited Copenhagen climate change talks having started Monday, Indonesia, the world's third-highest emitter of greenhouse gases, has criticized Japan and other rich countries for hiding behind the United States' failure to commit to carbon dioxide cuts and not yet expressing their own willingness to agree on a legally binding framework to slash emissions.
"It's right that Japan has announced its emission cut target, but it didn't say it will sign it as a legally binding commitment during the Copenhagen talks," Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat of the National Council on Climate Change, said in a recent interview.
Soon after taking office, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged that Japan would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels providing that other major emitters such as the United States, China and India join a new international framework on curbing global warming.