A Great Environmental Power

TSUJI Yoshifumi
Vice Chairman, Keidanren

The Third Conference of the Parties to Framework Convention on Climate Change(COP3), chaired by our country, will be held in Kyoto in December of this year. On the agenda is how to hold in check global warming caused by CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases by nature help keep the environment habitable for people, plants and animals. However, CO₂ concentration has gradually increased since the end of the 18th century as a result of expanding industrial activities. It is said that this will have profound adverse effects on the global environment in the 21st century, including increasing earth's surface temperatures. Accordingly, at COP3, discussions are to take place regarding setting targets for reducing CO₂ and other greenhouse gases after the year 2000.

Worldwide attention is now focused on the question of whether targets can be set that will allow effective reduction of these gases without affecting economic development.

In Japan, several research institutions have released estimates on the status of greenhouse gases for the year 2010 as compared with that in 1990. By and large, they point to the following.

1. If the present situation is allowed to continue, total CO₂ emissions would increase by 20 to 30%.
2. A sharp increase due to transportation and people's livelihood is projected, though the increase resulting from industrial activities will be small.
3. It is possible for governments and industries to reduce the total amount of emissions by making concerted efforts to implement stronger measures. The fate of these efforts depends on a) whether the industrial sector will increase their own efforts, including promoting nuclear power generation, b) further energy conservation efforts in people's lifestyles, such as in using household appliances, computers and other equipment, c) the development and popularization of more energy-saving vehicles in the transportation field, d) improvements in traffic flows and distribution of goods, and e) individual people's overall awareness of this issue.

For better or worse, our country has been called a "great economic power" this century. In the 21st century I would like for Japan to be called a "great environmental power." In this sense, I hope our government will take the initiative at the forthcoming Kyoto conference so that an appropriate avenue can be opened to deal effectively with global environmental issues.