Four days of high-level negotiations in Bonn, Germany, ended with a broad package on how to implement the Kyoto accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after Tokyo won latitude on how to reach its targets.
Tokyo's consent has been crucial to bringing the accord into force since US President George W. Bush rejected the 1997 pact in March, saying it would hurt the economy of the world's biggest polluter.
Loath to alienate the US or put Japanese companies at a competitive disadvantage, Koizumi has sought to lure Washington back to the accord even while promising that Japan is committed to seeing it take effect in 2002.
"We are making efforts so that America, the European Union and Japan can achieve cooperation," he said yesterday.
Scientists warn that the greenhouse effect - caused by pollutant gases trapping heat in Earth's atmosphere - could cause average temperatures to rise by up to 6deg in the next 100 years.
- REUTERS
