Japan is not seeking an exception from the Kyoto Protocol in which it committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels over the 2008-2012 period, a government official said.
The Nikkei financial daily reported on Tuesday that Tokyo had decided to seek an exception from its Kyoto obligations and asked for agreement from other signatories to the protocol, after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan halted operations of several nuclear reactors and triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
“The report is groundless,” said Takehiro Kano, director at the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.