WRAPUP 1-Japan's greenhouse emissions fall, recession bites

* Japan's emissions fall due to recession

* Clinton urges green growth, says Copenhagen deal not easy

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Japan's greenhouse gas emissions tumbled 6.2 percent last year in a new sign on Wednesday that recession is doing the job of cutting emissions while the world struggles towards a U.N. pact to combat climate change.

In Singapore, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries in Asia and the Pacific region to embrace green growth but predicted a new accord to slow global warming may not be easy at talks in Copenhagen from Dec. 7-18.

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions fell to 1.286 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the year to March 2009 from a revised 1.371 billion tonnes in 2007/2008, a record high.

The latest figure is closer to the Japanese government's promise under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol to limit emissions to 1.19 billion tonnes a year until 2012. Japan is the fifth biggest emitter after China, the United States, Russia and India.

"The figure suggests we're currently at levels sufficiently (low) enough to achieve the target," said Yasuo Takahashi, head of the environment ministry's climate change policy division.