+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Japan to Fund Studies on Overseas CO2 Offset Projects (Update2)
2010-10-20 10:26:54.802 GMT
(Updates with comment from trade ministry official in
fourth paragraph.)
By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government will fund
feasibility studies on overseas projects using nuclear power and
carbon capture and storage technologies to offset its emissions.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. will study the viability of a
nuclear power plant in Vietnam while AOC Holdings Inc.'s Arabian
Oil unit will work on a CCS project in Indonesia, Japan's trade
ministry said in a statement today. The government will provide
260 million yen ($3.2 million) for studies on 15 emission-
reduction projects.
Japan, the world's fifth-biggest carbon dioxide emitter in
2008, wants to use offsetting to help it cut greenhouse gas
emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. International
talks in Tianjin, China, to reach an agreement to combat climate
change ended this month with little progress made.
"The credits generated from the projects, if materialized,
will help Japan export its technologies as well as meet its
emission reduction goal," Noriaki Ozawa, director of the
ministry's Kyoto mechanism promotion office, told reporters in
Tokyo today.
Japan has started talks with Vietnam, Indonesia, India, the
Philippines, Thailand and Laos on the bilateral offset schemes,
Ozawa said. Japan wants them to "co-exist" with the United
Nations' Clean Development Mechanism, which doesn't include
nuclear power and CCS technologies, he said.
The selected projects will be developed in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Laos, and
China, according to the ministry statement.
In August, Japan chose another 15 projects including
"highly efficient" coal power plants, geothermal power units,
and energy-efficient technologies at iron and steel factories.
For Related News and Information:
Top Renewable Energy Stories: GREEN <GO>
Clean Development Mechanism Projects: CDM <GO>
Company News: 9501 JP <Equity> CN <GO>
--With assistance from Stuart Biggs in Tokyo. Editors: Aaron
Sheldrick, Ryan Woo.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2059 or
tinajima@bloomberg.net;
Yuji Okada in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2493 or
yokada6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash in Singapore at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
