Japan is drastically scaling back its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The new target actually increases its emissions by more than three percent over 1990 levels, and it complicates efforts to forge a global climate change pact at the World Climate Talks going on in Warsaw.

Under the new target, Japan would have to reduce its emissions by 3.8 percent compared to 2005.  But since emissions in the country grew about 7 percent between 1990 and 2005, this actually represents a 3.1 percent growth on top of 1990 levels.  This is a major departure from earlier commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol and Cancun Pledge. 

“This move by Japan could have a devastating impact on the tone of discussion here in Warsaw,” said Naoyuki Yamagishi of the World Wildlife Fund in a statement from the climate talks in Poland.  “It could further accelerate the race to the bottom among other developed countries when the world needs decisive and immediate actions to ‘raise’ ambition, not to ‘lower’ ambition.”

Other than the usual right-wing, pro-business thinking, one can’t help but wonder why Japan is doing this.  Certainly the political climate has changed, and hawkish, nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is no environmentalist. 

But failing to live up to its past statements will only give license to China to avoid cutting its output of pollution and greenhouse gases.  Japan lives downwind from China, and has experienced China’s fine particulate “PM2.5” air pollution blowing across the sea and fouling the skies over its cities.  Why Shinzo Abe would want to invite more of that on his nation makes no sense.