It would be wise for Japanese firms to invest in so-called carbon funds soon so they can meet greenhouse gas emissions targets more cheaply and on schedule, according to Ken Newcombe, manager of one such fund run by the World Bank.
The international institution opened the $180 million Prototype Carbon Fund in April 2000 to finance energy-related projects to reduce emissions of global warming gases in developing countries and thus mitigate climate change. The fund was closed earlier this year.
Investors in the fund -- private-sector companies and governments of industrialized nations -- are expected to be able to obtain credits for emission cuts from those projects under the clean development mechanism of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.