Japan will propose to other countries that numerical goals be set for the introduction of energy-saving equipment in each of their industrial sectors as a ratio to overall production equipment. The proposal aimed at cutting greenhouse gases will call for establishing a method to compute the quantities of reduced emissions if the goals set by each nation for each sector, such as steel and electric power generation, are met, government officials said. Adding up the computed quantities of reduced emissions will help each country achieve its overall national cutback targets, the officials said. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari will brief his counterparts from the Group of 20 countries on the proposal at a three-day meeting on climate change getting under way March 14 in Chiba. Given that Japanese industry has already made great progress in introducing energy-saving equipment, the Japanese approach would become the global benchmark if the G20 countries adopt the proposal, the officials said. At a meeting in January of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed adding up the quantities of greenhouse gases to be cut in each industrial sector to accomplish overall national cutback targets as a method of combating climate change starting in 2013. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming expires in 2012. The European Union has been calling for obliging various countries to commit to overall national reduction quantities in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework. But the Japanese proposal, which puts emphasis on energy saving, would allow countries to pursue both economic growth and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Amari said. Against this backdrop, the Japanese proposal would make it easier to secure consent from India and China, two major emitters bent on putting more priority on economic growth. More specifically, the proposal calls for designating energy-saving technology and production methods that are highly efficient in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in key industrial sectors. In the steel industry, for example, some 10 types of equipment will be selected for their ability to recover heat and greenhouse gases from steel plants.