Japan govt says climate bill may come later in the year

Japan's cabinet will try to push its climate change bill through the country's upper house later in the year if it runs out of time in the current parliamentary session, a senior government official said. Japan is the world's fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter and a pledge to cut emissions by 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 has become a cornerstone of the government's long-term economic growth strategy.

The powerful lower house last month passed the energy bill which includes the 2020 goal and a shortlist of measures to achieve this such as the launch of a nationwide compulsory emissions trading scheme, but it needs upper house approval to become legally binding. The government had initially planned to enact an emissions trading bill in the next regular parliamentary session in early 2011, aiming to launch a compulsory carbon market either in 2012 or in 2013.