Japan

AN ISLAND NATION with the worlds 10th largest population, Japan is one of the most powerful economic centers of the globe. Only the United States is more technologically advanced than Japan, and among single nations, only the United States can claim a larger economy, based on Gross Domestic Product. Unfortunately, Japan has also joined the ranks of world leaders in its contributions to global warming. In 2004, the country ranked fourth, behind the United States, China, and Russia, in its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Despite continued efforts to lower emissions through conservation, legislation, and technology, Japan continues to produce nearly 5 percent of the worlds CO2.

Japan began passing laws to control harmful industrial emissions as early as 1968, when the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution ...