Japan and Hungary Sign Memorandum of Cooperation to Reduce Emissions

The Japanese government signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Republic of Hungary on December 18, 2007, to use the Kyoto Protocol's mechanisms of Joint Implementation (JI) and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) to achieve their commitments under the Protocol to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It is the first bilateral memorandum of cooperation related to the GIS that the Japanese government has signed.

The JI is a mechanism that a developed country can use to make a contract with another country, whose economy is in transition and has its own emissions reduction quota, to jointly implement emissions reduction projects. The resulting reductions can then be utilized to meet the Kyoto Protocol commitments of each investing country. Under the memorandum, Hungary guaranteed the transfer of 90 percent of its emission reduction units (ERUs), as a credit gained from JI projects, to Japan.

The GIS is a new mechanism developed in the framework of international emissions trading specified in Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol. Under the scheme the revenue gained from any trading should be utilized for emissions reduction or other environmental policy objectives. Guidelines for utilizing the GIS will be decided sequentially through negotiations between the countries, since the protocol did not stipulate concrete procedures for GIS application.

By utilizing the Kyoto Mechanisms, the government of Japan declared it would compensate for its inability to reduce its emissions by the final 1.6 percent of its goal, a target which is unattainable even if maximum efforts are made with domestic measures under the "Goals of the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan" approved by the Cabinet in April 2005. On the other hand, the Hungarian government also has a reduction target of 6 percent, although its achievement is believed to be certain.

http://www.meti.go.jp/english/index.html
http://www.hu.emb-japan.go.jp/hun/071218_h.htm

Posted: 2008/03/27 01:15:04 PM