Japan's Matsushita Electric seeks emissions credits by saving energy

Japan's Matsushita Electric seeks emissions credits by saving energy - report

	Published : Sun, 13 May 2007 09:08 By : Agencies Print this Story

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - A growing number of Japanese companies, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, are seeking to obtain greenhouse gas emissions rights by improving energy efficiency at their production bases in Asia, the Nikkei reported.

The newspaper, in a report carried on its website over the weekend which did no identify any sources, said Matsushita Electric would soon start measuring energy use at its nearly 60 factories in China. It will use the data in formulating plans to reduce energy consumption at these factories in the fiscal year ending March 2009 and beyond. For example, it will replace compressors used in air conditioning systems, as well as boilers, with more energy-efficient ones.

The company will aim to obtain under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) greenhouse gas emissions credits equivalent to the carbon dioxide reduction volume achieved through its efforts in China.

In March, the UN approved energy-saving measures that Matsushita Electric proposed taking at its 10 Malaysian factories as worthy of CDM recognition, and the company started taking these steps last month, aiming to secure 8,100 tons-worth of emissions credits annually over the next 10 years.

The Nikkei said Denso Corp was also taking steps to have energy-saving measures planned for its Malaysian car air-conditioner and other factories recognized as CDM projects by the UN. It hopes to obtain 200 tons-worth of emissions rights annually by improving a system involving compressed air.

Japanese companies have so far gained emissions credits in China and other Asian countries by, for example, helping local partners produce electric power using such natural energy sources as wind and solar power, as well as biomass. The government here has approved 161 such projects so far, helping reduce an equivalent of 77.76 mln tons in carbon dioxide emissions annually in these countries.

But such projects appear to have reached a limit in these countries, prompting Japanese firms to seek new ways to obtain emissions credits there, the newspaper said.

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Japan's Matsushita Electric seeks emissions credits by saving energy - report