Resources for International Cooperation

  • Evaluation
    • Japan formulated ambitious climate protection targets in the early 1990s and continued to give attention to combating global warming throughout the decade. Japan has a detailed climate protection policy whose implementation is well co-ordinated and regularly reviewed.
    • Japan has consistently supported international climate protection efforts under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The CO2 intensity of the economy (kg CO2/unit GDP) decreased by 1.8% during the 1990s to rank eighth among OECD countries.
    • While weak decoupling was achieved in the 1990s between CO2 emissions and economic growth, Japan's performance still contrasts rather starkly with its overall goal of reducing GHG emissions by 6% between 1990 and 2008-12. Its GHG emissions increased by nearly 7% between the baseyear and 1999. Japan has therefore fallen short of the stabilisation targets it declared by ratifying the UNFCCC and by establishing its Action Programme to Halt Global Warming.
    • The energy intensity of the economy (toe/GDP) increased by 5% in the 1990s, a reversal of the trends of the 1970s and 1980s.
    • Although Japan pursued improvements in energy efficiency in all sectors during the 1990s as a means of reducing CO2 emissions, it has so far largely overlooked the potential contribution of demand management measures and renewable energy sources.
    • Existing environment-related taxes should be reviewed and further developed, where appropriate, from the viewpoint of GHG reduction and other objectives. One example is road transport fuel taxation. Economic instruments such as taxes and charges are used less in Japan than in a number of OECD countries.
  • Recommendations
    It is recommended to:
    • seek the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, with timely ratification processes, and with the widest possible participation;
    • further develop the national policy framework to combat climate change, with a balanced mix of policy instruments (including an expanded use of economic instruments such as taxes and charges), to reach domestic and international commitments; review and further develop environment-related taxes where appropriate, from the viewpoint of GHG reduction and other objectives;
    • develop and implement co-ordinated demand management measures (e.g. road pricing, parking charges, energy service company) and energy efficiency improvement measures (energy efficiency standards and other measures) in the transport and residential/commercial sectors;
    • review and revise voluntary initiatives in industry to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions (e.g. more explicit targets, expanded public access to relevant information);
    • take further measures to encourage the development and use of renewable forms of energy and to promote fuel switching where appropriate;
    • continue to implement policy measures to reduce emissions of HFCs, PFCs and SF6 with a balanced mix of policy instruments.