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Japanese business can lead climate campaign -Gore

15 Jan 2007 05:58:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

TOKYO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Japan's top business lobby could spark policy change on global warming by sending a strong message to its counterparts in the United States, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said in a speech in Tokyo on Monday.

Gore was speaking to executives at the Keidanren (Japanese Business Federation) as part of a campaign to promote his award-winning documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," which opens in Japan this week.

"The Japanese business community, because of the respect with which you are regarded, can have a powerful influence on the shaping of opinions within the U.S. business community," Gore said.

"When that changes, then U.S. policy will change," he said, urging the members of Keidanren to send the strongest possible message to big business in the United States.

The United States withdrew from the Kyoto protocol, which mandates cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the 2008-2012 period, saying the agreement would be harmful to the U.S. economy.

As host of the 1997 talks that forged the protocol, the Japanese government has urged major polluters including the United States, China and India to work harder to combat climate change, most recently during a visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Europe last week.

Japan's own emissions of greenhouse gases amounted to 1.36 billion tonnes in the year to March 2006, up 0.6 percent on the previous year and 14.1 percent adrift of its objective to cut emissions to 6 percent below their 1990 level.

But Gore said that corporate Japan had a special role to play.

"The business leadership of Japan can lead the way and lead the business community of the world," Gore said.

"Your determination to be a part of the solution can be the key to the world successfully solving this crisis."

More than 330 U.S. cities have endorsed the Kyoto protocol, in a sign of grass roots support for its aims, Gore said.

The one-time presidential candidate did not answer questions from the media on Monday. None of the business executives at the event asked him about rumours that he might build on the higher profile created by his environmental campaign to stand for the presidency again.

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Last updated:Mon Jan 15 05:59:22 2007