Japan to fund emission-curbing projects across Asia: report

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan plans to invest in emission-curbing projects in developing Asian nations in exchange for credits that add to its own anti-global warming effort, a press report said Sunday.

The Ministry of the Environment aims to obtain 3.5 million tonnes worth of emission credits through the investment, the major Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The Kyoto Protocol, a landmark pact against global warming, allows industrialized nations to lighten their commitments to reduce harmful greenhouse gases by investing in gas-cutting projects in developing countries.

Under the protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), industrialized nations can count the gas cuts through such projects as reductions in their own emission-curbing targets.

The ministry is due to select six projects for the investment among eight projects planned in five countries, the daily said.