Japan's unwillingness to extend the Kyoto Protocol is putting the global climate change architecture at risk and undermining the ongoing United Nations climate talks in Cancun.

Since the start of the Cancun talks on Nov 30, Japan's U-turn on the protocol has been noteworthy. Japanese officials have on several occasions expressed opposition to extending the Kyoto Protocol to its second commitment period, saying Japan will not make any emissions reduction commitments in this period.

At a recent regular news conference, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshito Sengoku, said he is firmly opposed to "discussions on the extension of the Kyoto Protocol to its second commitment period".

The parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held their third conference in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, at which the representatives from 149 countries and regions managed to agree the Kyoto Protocol. Following arduous talks, the protocol came into force in February 2005 and it is currently the only binding international convention on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of CO2 and five other greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent by 2012 compared to 1990 levels. National targets range from 8 percent reductions for the European Union to 7 percent for the United States, and 6 percent for Japan. Under the framework, developed countries also committed to further raising their reduction targets.

As the host nation of the 1997 UNFCCC conference, Japan played an important role in brokering the Kyoto Protocol. However, as the protocol approaches the end of its first commitment period, Japan is facing growing difficulties in reaching its target. Instead of a decline from the 1990 level, Japan's greenhouse gas emissions had increased 8.3 percent by 2007. Japan will have to slash its emissions by 14.3 percent by the end of 2012 to attain the 6 percent reduction target, a task that will be hard to realize if no substantial steps are taken.