Japan to launch trial carbon trading in autumn: PM

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will introduce in the autumn a trial system for carbon trading, seen as one effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday as he unveiled a new climate change policy.

Unlike the European Union, which imposes a cap-and-trade system to bind polluters to mandatory emissions limits, Japan has encouraged voluntary pledges from industries to cut emissions.

Some Japanese industries, such as steelmakers, oppose a European-style system, saying it would hurt their global competitiveness.

The European Union launched its cap-and-trade scheme in 2005, and New Zealand will start a similar system this year. Canada and Australia have proposed launching schemes in 2010.

U.S. legislation that would have set up a similar system died earlier this month in the Senate, but its supporters hope the next president will enact a global warming law as early as 2009.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka)