Hidefumi Imura

Voluntary approaches in Japan: proven record of pollution control agreements and new industrial initiatives for the protection of the global environment

This paper presents a review of the Japanese experience in the use of voluntary approaches in environmental policy. Pollution control agreements between local government and private industry have a proven record over 30 years as they have been extensively used to supplement national and local legislation while adapting to local conditions. They have played unique, positive roles for facilitating voluntary actions of industries, especially in the control of conventional air and water pollution in local areas, although there remain several unsettled questions concerning legitimacy and transparency of the discretional use of this approach by local government. In the 1990s, Japan’s environmental policy came into a new paradigm in which more attention had to be paid to voluntary actions of various stakeholders for protecting the global environment. In this new realm, Japanese industries under the initiative of Keidanren (the Federation of Economic Organizations) adopted a new approach based on voluntary action plans. They are unilateral commitments of industries to take measures against new environmental issues such as climatic change. They are expected to play a key role for Japan to achieve the reduction target of CO2 and other greenhouse gases agreed upon at the COP 3 in Kyoto, but their overall achievement will largely depend upon future actions of players involved and not predictable at this moment. Copyright

A study on experts’ judgement on the future perspective of a country: a case study for China

The future of the environment in China until the year 2050 has been forecasted through a heuristic approach. A questionnaire survey was given to a group of Japanese experts concerning 47 selected indices, including past data and reference data about other countries. The indices were related to aspects of the economy, population, food, energy, transportation, and the environment. The experts were requested to plot a graph for each index up to 2050 based on their intuition. The lines drawn by 60 experts were compiled along with their comments, and the characteristics of each index were analyzed. Different values for the indices regarding transportation and per capita GDP were forecasted by the experts, while rather similar values were obtained for those referencing population and food consumption. The respective fields of the experts were found to affect their perspectives on the future. Economists tended to show rather optimistic views, expressing a business-as-usual scenario, while engineers predicted limited growth but technological innovation.

ENVIRONMENTAL ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Local governments have to promote environmental activities in citizen and private companies, and to take the initiative to environmental sound action. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between awareness and attitudes of local governments about environmental activities, and to discuss the environmental sustainability in community. Questionnaires were sent to 97 local governments in Fukuoka Prefecture, and responses were received from 81.4% of them. We found that the environmental policy and statement of local governments are constant for a few years, and they have major concern that the support to voluntary action by citizen and companies is important. In spite of the progressive understanding of environmental management system, the implementation and operation of the system were not performed. As the subjects in environmental administration, it was indicated that the small-scale governments were puzzled for lack of the number of special staff and budget. To be effective, it is need to assist relatively small-scale towns and villages by the prefectural government.

The Case of Japan and a German Reference Scenario

With a view to deepening the preceding approach through a Japanese case study, the contributions of 20 Japanese experts, mostly from academia but also from the public administration and industry, are added. In order to structure their contributions, the following argumentation is used: n n1 n nThe starting point is the present Japanese energy-policy and its outlook. n n n n n2 n nA major determinant of future energy provision is stress on the environment, causing both local and global risks. n n n n n3 n nThe two single most important steps towards a new energy regime are (1) raising energy efficiency and (2) increasing the use of renewable energy, in particular by photovoltaics. n n n n n4 n nEnergy politics is deeply embedded in a societal context. Therefore, aspects of change of society and structures of energy supply and consumption are relevant. n n n n n5 n nSocieties are reflected and shaped by their media. n n n n n6 n nEnergy provision and use as well as its societal context may aim at different futures or are evolving into one or the other of them.