 Only 1% of offices disclose greenhouse gas emissions Amid growing calls for greenhouse gas emissions of each business establishment to be disclosed, only 427 (one percent) out of 41,000 offices responded to the government request to disclose their emission of greenhouse gases in Japan last year. At the House of Councilors Environment Committee meeting on May 19, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi pointed out that some establishments protect relevant information as a company secret and that lack of public disclosure cannot lead to reducing greenhouse gases. Ichida also said that the reduction of greenhouse gases produced from industrial and public sectors are still limited to voluntary efforts and demanded that the government conclude an agreement with industries to cut emissions. A currently discussed bill to revise the Law Concerning the Promotion of Measures to Cope with Global Warming includes systems to calculate, report, and disclose greenhouse gas emissions, but does not require the information to be released to the public. - Akahata, May 20, 2005 |