CIAB Market & Policy developments 2005/06 - IEA

New Zealand
211. A comprehensive review of the options open to the government for meeting its Kyoto
CO 2 emissions reduction targets was undertaken in November 2005 and a number of
discussion papers listing a broad range of measures were put out to general consultation
in December 2006:
• New Zealand Energy Strategy
• Transitional Measures to 2012
• Post-2012 Measures
• New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy
• Measures for Agriculture and Forestry
212. The government has recently announced that it is considering moving ahead with an
emissions trading scheme to cover all sectors and all gases. The timing of the
commencement of such a scheme, and when different sectors would be covered, is yet
to be decided. Consultation is expected to continue through to the end of 2007 before
firm decisions are made.
Japan
213. The “New National Energy Strategy” was issued in May 2006. It supports efforts for coal
gasification, clean coal technology, CTL and technological transfer to Asia Pacific
countries. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of
Environment (MoE) are talking about climate issues and industry is concerned about
energy security. Japan is, and will continue to be, actively involved in IGCC research.
214. On May 24 th 2007, Prime Minister Abe released his ideas on post-Kyoto principles after
2013:
• to increase the number of participant countries including the U.S., China and India;
and
• to decrease 2050 emissions to less than half of “present” emissions.
He also mentioned the importance of R&D, including IGCC and CCS. The MoE has
formulated schematic proposals for the 2008 G8 summit meeting based on this initiative.
However, the means of achieving the quantitative goal remain unclear.
215. On March 23 rd 2007, the MoE published figures for the carbon intensity of each electricity
retailer. The published data are to be used for large business entities to calculate their
CO 2 emissions from electricity consumption and to report GHG inventories to the MoE.
This may threaten some power producers which are highly dependent on coal, because
of a change in customers’ preference, although power produced from coal is cost
competitive in Japan. Power producers had been increasing their coal consumption, in
response to Government’s policies promoting competition in the power industry.
216. The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) advocates that Japan should
continue to use coal in light of inter-fuel price competition for power sources. According
to a report released by ANRE on March 22nd 2007, clean coal technology research and
development, including IGCC, should be accelerated in order to overcome environmental
concerns about coal in Japan. Japan expects to disseminate its generation technology,
especially in terms of high efficiency or low emissions, to other countries including the
U.S., China and India for tackling global warming. Also, the report proposes that
international CCS employing CDM should be examined and that Kyoto mechanisms can
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