Shuzo Nishioka

Policies and practices for a low-carbon society

In February 2006, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) Japan and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK set in motion an ambitious research project aimed at informing the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development established during the UK’s 2005 G8 Presidency (DEFRA, 2005). The Dialogue has engaged G8 and other interested countries with significant energy needs. It has focused on:

Introduction to Special Topic: Energy Pathways to a Low-Carbon Society

Energy and carbon are at the nexus of climate change, environment, health, and socio-economic development. The imperative to move towards cleaner and renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas is gaining significant public and private sector support. Reducing carbon in the atmosphere has fast emerged as a major means to achieve this, since carbon content can be measured and hence the pathways can be well-defined. The December 2009 Copenhagen Accord recognized “the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development.” To achieve this goal, the emerging scenario (e.g., the International Energy Agency (IEA) Report: World Energy Outlook 2009) is that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 be stabilized at around 450 ppm. If global emissions peak in 2015, we estimate that annual reductions in CO2 concentration of up to 5% would be necessary, equivalent to the Kyoto Protocol targets. Delaying reductions beyon...

Traffic pollution: Control policy and research trend

Abstract This paper focuses on the control policies and countermeasures to prevent traffic pollution, and researches to enforce them. Traffic pollution, such as air pollution and road traffic noise caused by motor vehicles, continues to be one of the most serious and complicated environmental problems in major urban areas, and will remain so in the “Network Society” projected into the year 2000. The first step of regulating emission from vehicles, which depends on technical availability, halfway succeeded, and the second step directed towards reduction of friction between traffic and residences in respective areas by means of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) and improvement of road structure and roadside environment is in progress. While the effectiveness of those countermeasures reached the plateau, a wave of urbanization and motorization overwhelmed and cancelled them. This lead to the third step of a more comprehensive planning policy cooperating with transportation and urban management. The fourth policy expected is an economic incentive policy, such as road pricing, that takes the place of conventional regulatory countermeasures.

Is low carbon society embedding or embedded in economy? Speed on the constraint or liberation from it

The aim of this paper is to define low carbon society (LCS) based on the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT [Human Impact (I) on the environment equals the product of population (P) affluence (A) and technology (T)], starting from the problem definitions: (1) Economy is not everything for LCS and (2) it is not clear if speed on the constraint is more important than liberation from it. To tackle these problems, two research questions are set: (1) What are the basic indicators, objects, and constraints to shape the argument of LCSs and (2) what are the historical paths of several countries and what can be said for their future paths toward carbon societies? Time series data from 1900 or before are used, while the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT equation is used as the core methodology. In addition to the IPAT variables, the importance of land per capita shall be considered as another basic indicator for LCS related to the carrying capacity. The three different kinds of objects [i.e., total gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, and social indicator] and the two constraints (i.e., total emission and emission per capita) are considered, and it is shown that the combination of these objects and constraints strongly affects the argument of the carrying capacity of climate and land, development of economic system and economic man, and other human developments. Among the four cases analyzed in the phase diagram, the case where GDP per capita is object and total emission is constraint is given the most attention and requires the further research in the future since it does not contradict with a definition of LCS. It is also suggested that if changing the direction of the path with low carbon technology development takes time and cost, institutional arrangement would be additionally necessary in addition to market mechanism where optimal solutions are found on constraint.

Methodologies for leapfrogging to low carbon and sustainable development in Asia

It is clear that much more drastic and early actions than those that are presently being undertaken are needed to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. The Asian region, accounting for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions and growing at a rapid economic pace, has a major role to play in the worlds transition to a low carbon society (LCS). To design leapfrog pathways to low carbon and sustainable development, it is important to have a scientific tool that can develop LCS pathways and analyze the effectiveness of policies to achieve them under different scenarios. The Asia-Pacific Integrated Assessment Model (AIM) is an effective tool to support these analyses. It has been developed by researchers in Asia and used in policymaking processes in Asia. It can provide comprehensive and consistent assessment of various policies, including macro-economic policies and technological measures. It can analyze trade-offs between rapid economic growth i...

Japan’s Comprehensive and Continual Support Package for the Creation of Scientific Climate Policies in Asia

The response to climate change is a matter of increasing urgency, and from 2020, every nation will be required to reduce its GHGs. The unified reduction policies of the central governments of each country form the core of reduction policy implementation. Actual reductions are planned and implemented for each region and sector. As climate policies are strongly related to the development strategies and energy policies of each country, it is thus necessary for each country to independently mobilise knowledge to formulate strategies and policies based on domestic natural and developmental conditions.