Japan

Kyoto Protocol

Japan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and is obligated by the agreement to reduce its emissions by 6 percent of the 1990 level, but reports indicate that the country is far from the target. Even as CO2 emissions from small-to-medium-sized industries have decreased, emissions from electricity consumption have increased 45.8 percent over the base year. During recent years, the share of passenger cars as a proportion of total passenger transport has increased, and even though Japan has established vehicle emissions standards for nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons, greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles for personal use have increased. In the case of CO2, the increase has been 52.6 percent since 1990. To meet the Kyoto target would require a 14 percent reduction based on 2005 figures, and 2006 emissions were even higher. Complicating the picture is the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, site of the worlds largest nuclear output, where operations were suspended after an earthquake shook the facility in July 2007. Experts estimate that this suspension alone may raise Japan's CO2 emissions by as much as 2 percent.

Pressure for more action is increasing as the immediate effects of global warming are felt throughout the nation. The production of rice, Japans most important crop domestically, is expected to increase in some regions of the country as temperatures warm. Researchers predict that the rise in temperatures will decrease wheat production throughout the country. Concerns about heavier weed growth, harmful insects, and changes in rainfall patterns that create drought in some areas and cause flash floods in others generate fear as well.

A harbor on the island of Kyushu beneath the Sakurajima volcano in Japan. Host to the conference that led to the Kyoto Protocol, Japan has signed and ratified more than a dozen other international environmental agreements.

Japan has actively responded to these challenges. It has become a world leader by developing and implementing pollution control technologies and energy efficiency innovations. The Revised Energy Savings Law, adopted in 1999, encourages both central and local government to implement environmentally friendly technologies such as solar energy, wind power, and multi-fuel vehicles. Japan, host to the conference that led to the Kyoto Protocol, has signed and ratified more than a dozen other international environmental agreements, including Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, and Tropical Timber 94.

...