Japan will launch an experimental carbon trading scheme for industry this autumn, Yasuo Fukuda, prime minister, said on Monday as he announced a pledge to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 per cent by 2050.

In a speech laying out Japan’s position on climate change ahead of a summit of the Group of Eight leading economies next month, Mr Fukuda, the meeting’s host, said the world needed to “sever its reliance on fossil fuels” and “make a decisive turn toward a low-carbon society”.