The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released an interim report Friday on global warming, calling for a new framework that covers the majority of ozone-depleting greenhouse gas emissions.
The new framework is expected to be launched after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Because the United States, which accounts for 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, has withdrawn from the Kyoto pact, it covers only one-third of total emissions, the report states.
With developing countries, which are not covered by the Kyoto pact, expected to produce half of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, the report urges the U.S. and developing countries to join the new framework.