The government revised downward its 2010 forecast for emissions of three chlorofluorocarbon substitutes that cause global warming to a 0.2 percent increase from 1995 levels, sources said Saturday.
The initial forecast was for up to 2 percent growth.
The lower than anticipated emissions generated by the CFC substitutes -- hydrofluorocarbon, perfluorocarbon and sulfur hexafluoride -- will help the country achieve its targets for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming, the government sources said.
The protocol will take effect in February after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on the ratification of the treaty Friday. Under the pact, Japan must slash its greenhouse-gas emissions by 6 percent from their 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
In May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry projected the emissions of the CFC substitutes to rise 1.9 percent from 1995 levels to 74 million tons.
The estimates were revised downward in view of the government's increased subsidies to help develop new technologies to curb the emissions of the three gases and the tightening of a CFC recovery and destruction law, according to the sources.
HFCs replaced ozone-depleting CFCs, which have been banned in developed countries since 1995. They are used as coolants in air conditioners, refrigerators, foam-blowing sprays and other products. PFCs are used to manufacture semiconductors, while SF6 is used as an insulator.