April 21, 2015

Editorial: Japan must set anti-climate change goal without using nuke disaster as excuse

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150421p2a00m0na010000c.html

The government is said to be in the final stages of setting a new target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at about 25 percent of current levels by 2030. This translates into a reduction rate from 1990 -- the base year set by the Kyoto Protocol -- of about 10 percent, which is much lower than the reduction goals submitted already by other industrialized nations.

At this rate, it is unclear whether Japan will be able to reach its Cabinet-approved, long-term target of an 80-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The next international negotiations on climate change will be at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris at the end of this year, during which participating states hope to establish a new framework on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the year 2020 onward.

The European Union has already submitted its goal for 2030 of at least a 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels; the United States has also submitted its goal for 2025 as a reduction of 26 to 28 percent compared to 2005 levels. Both these targets are aligned with international goals for industrialized countries to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has run analyses on possible gas reduction volumes for various countries based on reduction measures that are currently implemented, but the targets set by both the E.U. and the U.S. are more ambitious than those figures.

Meanwhile, the reduction rate being finalized by Japan is about the same level as the figure predicted through IEA's analyses. It will be incredibly difficult to reach Japan's long-term targets at this pace, meaning future generations will be forced to bear a greater burden. Indeed, we cannot ignore the disadvantages we face in our anti-climate change efforts partly as a result of our nuclear reactors being stopped. But Japan is the world's fifth-biggest greenhouse-gas emitter. It is our responsibility to set an ambitious reduction target and contribute to global anti-climate change efforts.

We cannot fulfill that responsibility without stepping up efforts to conserve energy and to expand the use of renewable energy.

Exporting Japanese technology to reduce emissions overseas can help on a global scale, but we must not neglect measures within Japan.

Japan's energy-saving measures are world class, but efforts have plateaued. Today, emissions per GDP are lower in Britain and Italy than in Japan. Last month, the Japan Climate Leaders' Partnership (Japan-CLP) -- comprising corporations passionate about anti-climate change efforts -- recommended the implementation of an emission trading scheme based on the thinking that creating an economic structure that focuses on energy and resource conservation would help improve Japan's competitive edge. It's a mindset that responds to the demands of the times in which we live.

Expanding the use of renewable energy can result in the rise of electricity prices, but it can also reduce the cost of procuring fossil fuels. Locally generating and locally consuming renewable energy can help create jobs in regional communities, contributing to the goal of "vitalizing local economies" emphasized by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

According to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC), the use of one nuclear reactor reduces carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 3.2 million tons annually. However, since Japan generates a total of 1.4 billion tons of greenhouse gases per year, the proportion that nuclear power contributes toward achieving Japan's long-term goals is not that great.

Japan stands at a point now, where it can no longer hide behind the Fukushima nuclear disaster for its passive stance toward anti-climate change measures.

April 21, 2015(Mainichi Japan)