Force business sector to achieve a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions: JCP Ichida on government

Japan Press Weekly

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Force business sector to achieve a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions: JCP Ichida on government

At the House of Councilors Environment Committee meeting on November 24, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi stated, “If the Hatoyama government is to fulfill its promise to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 25 percent by 2020, a sharp departure from the previous Liberal Democratic-Komei government’s subservience to the Japanese business sector and the United States is indispensable.”

Citing the Japanese business sector’s strong opposition to the 25-percent reduction plan, Ichida stated, “Without forcing the business sector to change, which emits 80 percent of greenhouse gases, the goal of 25 percent cut will not be achieved.”

Environment Minister Ozawa Sakihito recognized that they have enough capacity to do so.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Japan's greenhouse gas emissions per GDP have decreased only 8.1 percent from 1990 levels, and Japan’s CO2 emissions per generated electric power stood at 450g/kWh, ranking 20th among the 30 OECD nations.

Ichida said, “These figures show clearly that the Japanese business sector has neglected to make efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The business sector can do more to implement the reduction goal.”

He pointed out that Japanese makers operating in Britain, including Nissan, Toyota, and Honda, have concluded agreements with the British government to get tax breaks if these makers achieve their goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ichida also cited the July 2008 interim report issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry panel, composed of executive members of business circles, including the Japan Business Federation’s Board of Councillors and industrial circles, which referred to the need to examine the establishment of a public framework (in the form of government-business agreements) concerning legislative measures for emission cuts.

The government should attach importance to promoting agreements between the government and corporations as a core means of achieving the 25 percent cut, accompanied by supplementary steps such as introduction of a domestic emission trading system and an environment tax, Ichida stressed.

Regarding the effort to bring a success to the COP15 talks focusing on the international framework to be applied from 2013, Ichida said that the government should work hard to have the other industrialized countries establish their own goals in response to the needs that have scientific grounds and avoid making developing nations’ reduction as the prerequisite for their actions.

“It is essential that the U.S. announce its own numerical in reduction,” Ichida added.

- Akahata, November 25, 2009