Kyodo News

The Environment Ministry is considering requiring measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for large-scale projects such as building shopping centers in suburban areas that lead to a sharp increase in road traffic, ministry sources said Sunday.

Aimed especially at reducing the rising emissions in the transportation sector, the ministry wants to include the provision in a bill it plans to submit during the ongoing Diet session to revise the law on promoting measures to deal with global warming, the sources said.

But uncertainties remain over whether it can be realized as industrial interests as well as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry strongly oppose the idea.

Measures envisioned by the ministry to require private-sector entities in promoting projects includes operating bus services to nearby train stations to reduce the number of cars used by commuting workers and customers visiting shopping centers and other large commercial facilities in suburban areas.

The ministry is also considering such administrative roles as setting up benchmarks for emission volumes per floor space in office buildings and other commercial buildings, urging the reduction for emissions above the benchmarks and disclosing the names of entities that fail to improve emissions, the sources said.

But the industry ministry is also strongly opposed to the envisioned administrative roles.

While Japan's total greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal 2006 rose 6.4 percent from the 1990 level, the emissions in the transportation sector, including motor vehicles and ships, were up 17 percent with the emissions from private vehicles increasing sharply, according to the latest preliminary government data.

Looking ahead, the government forecast that emissions in the transportation sector in fiscal 2010 will rise 10 percent from the 1990 level.