Tokyo to host global transport CO2 meet

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Transport ministers from around the world are to gather in Tokyo in January to discuss ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in key transport areas, with a focus on air and road transport.

The meeting will aim at drawing up measures to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the transport sectors.

Ministers will discuss the creation of an effective framework that would allow for greater cooperation and support between nations to tackle climate change, a proposal Japan has strongly backed. The meeting to be hosted by the Construction and Transport Ministry will be held from Jan. 14 to 16. Transport ministers from 22 nations will attend, including those from the Group of Eight economies, as well as China and India. Representatives from nine international organizations also will be present.

According to the International Energy Agency, the amount of CO2 released by the transport sector accounts for 23 percent of global warming emissions, a figure that is topped only by the electric power generation and building heating sector. International coordination to tackle the reduction of CO2 in the transport sector has been described as urgent because the amount of CO2 emitted by the sector looks set to double in 20 years as economic growth in emerging nations leads to increased car ownership.

Following the 1979 oil shock, Japan was the first among the leading economies to introduce minimum fuel-efficiency standards, and it has remained at the forefront of efforts to limit fuel use by widening the measure to include trucks and buses.

Participants will discuss two ways to reduce CO2 emissions, including restricting fuel consumption by employing in China the Japanese-developed Top Runners Approach, which calls for fuel efficiency standards to be calculated and set for every product, and introducing restrictions on fuel use in India and the Philippines.

The establishment of a common fuel consumption standard among industrialized nations by studying the various calculation methods that are used, then introducing a unified measurement system, will be discussed at the meeting.