Proposal Would Cut Gas Emissions by 5%

Japan, host to a high-profile climate conference to be held in December, announced a proposal that industrialized countries cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% from 1990 levels by 2012. The proposal would allow countries to lower their targets for emission reduction based on such factors as population growth and gross domestic product. More than 150 signatories to a 1992 United Nations convention on climate changes will gather Dec. 1-10 in Kyoto to hammer out binding targets for industrialized nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.