Japan’s power companies drew close to meeting their carbon dioxide emissions goals after using 57 million tons of carbon credits in the latest business year to March, industry data showed on Tuesday, although protracted nuclear reactor shutdowns have cast doubt on progress in the current year.
The use of credits under the Kyoto Protocol cut the sector’s CO2 emissions to 317 million tons, largely meeting protocol targets, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan said.
The federation said, however, that it could no longer project how many carbon credits would be needed to meet protocol targets in the future, given uncertainties over how long nuclear reactors may remain idled while public worries over safety delay the restart of units taken offline for routine maintenance.
Japanese power companies, like their counterparts in the European Union, have been among the biggest buyers of globally traded carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol.
The 10 regional utilities, which account for about 30 percent of Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions, have each pledged to meet a goal of 0.34 kg of CO2 per kilowatt hour, for a 20 percent improvement from 1990 levels over the five years to March 2013.
Using CO2 credits, the industry cut emissions to 0.35 kg of CO2 per kwh. In the three years to March 2011, the industry used a cumulative 172 million tons of carbon credits to reduce emissions.
The federation last September announced that it expected to buy 260 million tons of CO2 credits during the five years to the end of 2012.
The industry body said it could not make a comparable projection this year as the ongoing radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant put on hold the restart of other nuclear plants down for maintenance.
The federation said it would aim to meet the CO2 target by improving efficiency of fossil fuel-fired plants, but the prolonged shutdown of many reactors would have a significant impact on the industry’s emissions for the business year that started in April.
“The issue of whether to set a new (emissions) goal will be one item for future discussion,” said Hiroshi Kamaya, the federation’s general manager.
He added that power firms were in a financial bind as they boosted fossil fuel purchases to offset reduced nuclear power output, and that the industry may declare a force majeure with the government regarding the emissions targets.
No reactors have been able to restart operations since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan on March 11, triggering the crisis at Fukushima.
Given a requirement that reactors shut for maintenance at least every 13 months, all 54 of Japan’s commercially operating reactors could be shut by April or May of next year if the stalemate on restarts continues.
Nuclear operators are currently conducting stress tests mandated by the government as one condition for restarts, but it remains unclear whether local authorities would give the go-ahead to resume operations once those tests have been cleared.
