Prime minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama said today that Japan, the world's fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, will aim for a 25 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.
But Mr Hatoyama added that the target, more ambitious than the outgoing government's, was premised on a deal on ambitious goals being agreed by major nations.
"We can't stop climate change just with our country setting an emissions target," Hatoyama, who will take office on September 16th after a vote by parliament, said in a speech to a symposium on climate change in Tokyo. "We will also aim to create a fair and effective international framework by all major countries in the world."
The Democratic Party has said a tough 2020 target is needed for Japan to play a bigger role in UN-backed climate talks in Copenhagen in December. The talks will try to work out a new agreement on reducing emissions to succeed the current Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which ends in 2012.
The outgoing government's 2020 target, announced in June, is equivalent to a cut of 8 per cent below 1990 levels.
Japan is under pressure for tougher climate policies after its emissions rose 2.3 percent to a record in the year to March 2008, putting the country 16 percent above its Kyoto Protocol target.
The head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat Yvo de Boer said Mr Hatoyama's new commitment was "laudable" and would spur change in Japan's economy.
Industrialised nations are planning average cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of between 10 and 14 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 as part of the new UN climate pact, according to a compilation of national data. This is far below the 25-40 per cent reduction by 2020 recommended by the UN climate panel.
To reduce emissions, Mr Hatoyama's party has pledged to create a domestic emissions trading market with compulsory volume caps on emitters and introduce a "feed-in" tariff, or financial reward, for renewable energy to help expand capacity for clean energy sources.
It is also considering a new carbon tax, but other campaign pledges such as a plan to eliminate motorway tolls and remove a decades-old surcharge on petrol and diesel have drawn concern from green groups.
Reuters