Japan is on a path to increase its carbon-dioxide emissions because it is shifting to coal imports from more expensive liquefied natural gas.

Recent trade statistics suggest Japan’s LNG demand has peaked even though the country continues to go without any nuclear power plants in operation. Meanwhile, coal imports are moving higher.

In February, Japan’s LNG imports fell 0.2% compared to the same month a year earlier, following a 0.6% slip in January, customs data released Wednesday showed. Imports of thermal coal used to generate electricity rose 4.8% in February year-on-year, following a 17% rise in January, according to the data.

Japan’s CO2 emissions climbed to their second-highest level on record in the year ended in March 2013 because most nuclear plants were idle and fossil-fuel use grew. In the current fiscal year, those emissions are likely to rise again.

Plans for power-industry deregulation have prompted several companies outside of the traditional group of electric-power companies to build new coal-fired power plants. Last week, Osaka Gas Co. said it would build a 149-megawatt coal-fired power station in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan.

Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal Corp.and Electric Power Development Co. in December set up a joint venture to build and operate a 640-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.

Japan is studying whether to restart some of its 48 nuclear reactors. Many of the older ones are seen as unlikely to go back into service because it would cost too much to strengthen safety standards to the level now required in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident.