Scorecard summary:
Fulfilment of Rio Conference Commitment- Red,br>
Current Government Position on Climate Change- Red
Per Capita CO2 Emissions - Yellow (8.79 metric tons per person in 1992)
National CO2 Emissions- Red- (1,093 million metric tons in 1992)
OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
Adopted energy efficiency measures early on,
but now
appears reluctant to do more. Its leadership is crucial for the success
of the Climate Summit in Kyoto next December.
NATIONAL CLIMATE PROTECTION GOAL:
According to the "Action
Programme to
Arrest Global Warming" of the Japanese government, the goal is to
stabilise the emissions of CO2 on a per capita basis in the year 2000 and
beyond at the same level as 1990. This figure would be an increase of 3
percent in total emissions and was considered to be achievable in the
1994 country report. But in fact, there has already been an increase
of 7.8 percent in emissions by 1995.
SPECIFIC FEATURES:
Japan relies almost exclusively on imported
energy
resources, particularly oil, to fuel the economy. Over the past 20 years
energy efficiency gains have been impressive, undertaken partly for
energy security purposes. As energy prices for utilities and all other
energy users are very high in Japan, there are incentives to save
energy. However, further emission reductions will require even more
ambitious shifts to less carbon-intensive fuels or efficiency gains in
all sectors. New market liberalisation may reduce prices and thus reduce
incentives for further emission reductions. Climate protection policy is
split between Ministries. The Japanese government's proposed protocol to
the Climate Convention gives two options for countries to select from a
per capita basis and a flat-rate approach. This is because the government
could not decide between the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI)'s endorsement of the per capita approach and the
Environment Agency (EA)'s flat-rate approach. Neither Ministry has
specified any concrete figure for either approach.
NEGATIVE FEATURES:
Though energy consumption and CO2 emissions
are
growing far more than the government's target and the long-term energy
demand and supply forecast, no effective measures are being taken to
curb CO2 emissions. Consequently CO2 emissions are increasing. The
growth in household, commercial/institutional and transport sectors is
substantial. The government's budget on global warming counter measures
for FY
1997 is roughly US$4 billion. However, two-thirds of this budget is for
Research & Development of nuclear power, and only 17 percent for energy
saving/new energy. Government subsidy for solar power generation is a
mere 2 percent of the whole budget. So a huge amount is used for
long-term R&D which will not have applications in the short- term. MITI
is also considering lowering electricity tariffs.
POSITIVE FEATURES:
Energy consumption per GDP is low compared to
other
countries. According to the IEA Energy Balances (1992-93), this is
0.148 ton of oil equivalent per $1000 GDP for Japan, compared to 0.352
for US, which means that Japanese industry is 2-3 times more energy
efficient than the US. The government subsidy for solar generation has
nearly trebled in the past year. The number of applications to be
subsidised has also increased from 1600 to 9400. A new system to
subsidise local governments interested in intensive introduction of
renewable energy, environmentally friendly cars and other energy saving
measures has been introduced. The Ministry of International Trade and
Industry will submit a new law during the current Diet session to promote
utilization of renewable energies. New voluntary action plans were
announced in December 96 to improve energy efficiency in all industry
sectors by 10-20 percent compared to 1990.
Source: Report on the in-depth review of the national
communication of Japan FCCC/IDR.1/JPN June 1986.