Japan emissions down, starting to rise again-paper

TOKYO, Oct 31 (Reuters) Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fell 1.3 per cent in the year ended in March partly due to a warm winter, but they rose in the three months to June from a year earlier, a newspaper said today, quoting official data.

The Yomiuri newspaper said the recent rise would make it hard for Japan to meet its target under the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change.

Emissions of greenhouse gases, widely blamed for global warming, were 1.341 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in fiscal 2006/07, the newspaper reported, citing preliminary Environment Ministry data it had obtained.

But emissions rose 4.8 per cent in the April-June quarter this year from the same period last year, the Yomiuri added.

The 2006/07 emissions were 6.3 per cent above the benchmark fiscal year 1990/91 set in the Kyoto Protocol.

Japan, the only Asian country with a Kyoto target, has set a target to cut emissions by 6 per cent from 1990 levels by the 2008-2012 period.

REUTERS SYU HS1337