Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:49am EDT

* Kansai’s CO2 emissions rise to 65.69 mln tonnes

* Kansai offset 16 pct more emissions with U.N. CO2 credits

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO, July 24 (Reuters) – Kansai Electric Power Co.’s
carbon dioxide emissions surged by 40 percent in the
year ending March 2012 from a year earlier as utilities burnt
more fossil fuels due to Japan’s nuclear shutdown, the power
company said on Tuesday.

In the 2011-2012 period, Kansai, Japan’s most
nuclear-reliant utility, emitted 65.69 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent, up almost 40 percent from a year earlier,
the firm said in a statement.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sparked by
last March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami shredded public
faith in atomic power and prevented the restart of reactors shut
for routine checks, resulting in a fall in the number of online
reactors to zero by early May.

Before the Fukushima crisis, nuclear power had accounted for
about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity demand.

Utilities have had to burn more carbon-heavy fossil fuels to
generate electricity to make up for a fall in the nuclear
utilisation rate to 23.7 percent from 67.3 percent in 2010/11.

Last month, Japan’s 10 utilities consumed a record volume of
natural gas to generate power, industry data showed, while
consumption of fuel oil and crude oil surged 132 percent to
469,000 barrels per day from a year ago.

CARBON CREDITS

As a result of emitting more CO2, Kansai offset 16 percent
more of its emissions with U.N.-backed carbon permits, using
5.25 million tonnes of such credits.

Under the global emissions-cutting pact the Kyoto Protocol,
Japan has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by an
average 6 percent over 2008 to 2012 from 1990 levels.

There are fears that Japan will likely not meet its target
under the pact as it increasingly looks to fossil-fuelled
generation.

Japan’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are
projected to rise 3.5 percent in the current fiscal year, a
think tank said this month – the third consecutive year of
growth.

Countries can meet their Kyoto targets by burning less
fossil fuels which emit harmful greenhouse gases, being more
energy efficient, using cleaner sources of energy and by buying
carbon credits under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
to offset their emissions.

Even before last year’s Fukushima nuclear crisis, Japanese
power companies are major buyers of U.N. carbon credits under
the CDM.

The 40 percent jump in Kansai’s emissions resulted in an
average adjusted CO2 intensity rate over the period 2008-2011 at
0.315 kg per kilowatt hour, falling short of its 0.282 kg goal,
Kansai said.

Japan’s 10 power companies usually say how their CO2
emissions are adjusted and how they near their CO2 goals when
they announce earnings for the April-June period. The earnings
announcements are due to start later this week.

Other Japanese utilities are expected to show similar jumps
in CO2 emissions output and increased carbon credit use due to
extended shutdowns of nuclear power plants over the past year.

(Editing by Nina Chestney)

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/24/climate-japan-kansai-electric-idUSL4E8IO34P20120724