This year marks the beginning of the target period under the Kyoto Protocol in which major industrial powers are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through 2012.

Japan is obliged to cut emissions from 1990 levels by an average of 6 percent during the five-year period. The immediate past, however, does not set a positive tone. In the year through last March, emissions increased 6.4 percent to about 1.34 billion tons from 1.26 billion tons in the base year of fiscal 1990.

In December, advisory panels of the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry drafted a joint report arguing it would be possible to meet the emissions target if around 20 additional measures are implemented.