In his recent speech delivered at the World Economic Forum, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda elaborated on the Japanese government's new position on the issue of climate change, which gained wide attention from the media. Japan will host the G-8 summit this year, at which the ways to deal with climate change will be discussed. Therefore, Fukuda's speech is especially worth paying attention to.
Yasuo Fukuda named his proposal for dealing with climate change the "Cool Earth Promotion Program." The proposal consists of three ideas: first, to construct the "post-Kyoto framework;" second, to promote international environmental cooperation; and third, to expand technological innovation. The latter two are not difficult to understand; but the first has been cause for controversy. The following is the main content of the "post-Kyoto framework:" all major greenhouse gas emitting countries should participate in a new international framework, the "post-Kyoto Protocol;" after 2013, the cumulative emissions reduction requirements for all industries will be set at fair "overall national goals;" and 1990 will no longer be the standard for the Kyoto Protocol's emission reduction targets.
The Japanese government has made two clear "goals for total emissions reduction": one is short-term, in which Japan will reduce 6% of emissions from 2008 to 2012, based on the 1990 benchmark; the other is the long-term, in which the proposal, made by Japan, Canada and other countries, and approved by G-8 countries in June 2007, offers a compromise: G-8 countries will "seriously consider reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases to half of the 1990 level by 2050." Japan has been tight-lipped about its mid-term goals after 2013, and has given excuses that the United States and other countries have not declared their stance. Most countries participating in the United Nations General Assembly on climate change criticized Japan's passive attitude in December 2007. To cancel out the negative impact, Fukuda talked about cumulative emissions reduction targets in his speech. But it is nothing new since the EU clarified its reduction targets before 2020.
In terms of setting targets after 2013, Fukuda proposed "setting fair goals by calculating the cumulative emission reductions of all industries," and no longer using the established 1990 standards as the benchmark. In fact, the so-called "volume of cumulative emission reductions" is based on the energy utilization rate of each country. With its advanced technology and high energy usage efficiency, Japan will benefit from this. And by using the post-2000 era as a base, Japan will be able to reduce its burden because its greenhouse gas emissions increased by 8% after 2000. The Japanese media responded accordingly: the proposed "cumulative" method can easily be interpreted as setting a lower goal, and will be regarded as Japan's pre-emptive defense. Such proposals hardly play a leading role in international environmental affairs. The Director of the Japanese National Institute for Environmental Studies also said: "both adopting cumulative targets and revising the benchmark year will be considered a scapegoat and will not be taken seriously by the international community.
Yasuo Fukuda's "Cool Earth Promotion Program," to a large extent, is a warming-up for the G-8 summit scheduled in Hokkaido in July. However, his proposal is colored by a passive-defensive attitude. No wonder the Japanese media said that the prospects for the new proposal and the summit are uncertain.
By People's Daily Online
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