Japan May Declare Force Majeure on Kyoto Protocol, Orbeo Says
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Japan may declare force majeure to prevent additional costs of buying emission permits as required by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol after an earthquake devastated the country, according to an analyst at Orbeo.
The quake may add emissions of 74 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent as the country is forced to replace power from nuclear reactors with fossil-fuel alternatives. That would cost Japan an additional 370 million euros ($516 million) assuming it has to pay 5 euros for every Assigned Amount Unit, Emmanuel Fages, a Paris-based analyst at the emissions venture of Rhodia SA and Societe Generale SA, said today by e-mail.