The government has set a new target for greenhouse gas emissions that critics say will set back United Nations talks for a treaty limiting fossil fuel emissions.

The new target effectively reverses course from the goal set four years ago by allowing a 3.1 percent increase in emissions from 1990 levels rather than seeking a 25 percent cut.

"This move by Japan could have a devastating impact on the tone of discussion here in Warsaw," Naoyuki Yamagishi, an official at WWF Japan, said in a statement at climate talks in Poland in anticipation of the government's decision "It could further accelerate the race to the bottom among other developed countries when the world needs decisive and immediate actions to 'raise' ambition, not to 'lower' ambition."