OSAKA (Reuters) - Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503.T: Quote, Profile, Research) aims to lower its carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from the electricity it sells by around 20 percent from 2008 through increased nuclear power generation and credit buying.

The country's second-largest power generator aims to cut CO2 to 0.282 kg per kilowatt hour of electricity sold in the five business years from April 2008, versus its latest data for 0.358 kg in the 2005/2006 business year.

This will be the lowest among Japanese utilities, who are cutting emissions under the country's Kyoto Protocol commitments, though Tokyo has not imposed mandatory targets unlike the European Union and analysts say it will struggle to meet its goal.

"Japan is resource poor, so we have no choice but to rely on nuclear power as a major source of energy," the firm's Executive Officer Masao Ikoma said in an interview as part of the Reuters Energy Summit.