Climate change in Japan

Sekisei Lagoon in Okinawa has suffered coral bleaching

Climate change in Japan is already affecting Japan, and the Japanese government is increasingly enacting policy to respond. Currently, Japan is a world leader in the development of new climate-friendly technologies.^[1] Honda and Toyota hybrid electric vehicles were named to have the highest fuel efficiency and lowest Greenhouse gas emissions.^[2] The fuel economy and emissions decrease is due to the advanced technology in hybrid systems, biofuels, use of lighter weight material and better engineering. As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, and host of the 1997 conference which created it, Japan is under treaty obligations to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps related to curbing climate change.

Greenhouse gas emissions[]

Japan is one of the largest greenhouse gas polluters

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Japan has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.^[3] In 2019 Japan emitted 1212 Mt CO2eq,^[4] The per capita CO2 emissions were 9.31 tonnes in 2017^[5] and was the 5th largest producer of carbon emissions.^[6] As of 2019 greenhouse gas emissions by Japan are over 2% of the annual world total,^[7] partly because coal supplies about a third of its electricity.^[8]

Impacts on the natural environment[]

Temperature and weather changes[]

Climate change has affected Japan drastically. The temperature and rainfall have increased rapidly in the years leading up to 2020. This has resulted in immature rice grains and also oranges that automatically get separated from their skin due to immature growth by inappropriate weather. Lots of corals in the Japanese seas and oceans have died due to rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification. Tiger mosquitoes who transmit dengue fever were found further north than before.^[10]

Earth Simulator calculations reveal the daily increase in mean temperature in Japan during the period 2071 to 2100. The temperature will increased by 3.0 °C in Scenario B1 and 4.2 °C in A1B compared to that of 1971 to 2000. Similarly, the daily maximum temperature in Japan will increase by 3.1 °C in B1 and 4.4 °C in A1B. The precipitation in summer in Japan will increase steadily due to global warming (annual average precipitation will increase by 17% in Scenario B1 and by 19% in Scenario A1B during the period 2071–2100 compared to that of 1971–2000).^[11]

Current/past Köppen climate classification map for Japan for 1980–2016

Predicted Köppen climate classification map for Japan for 2071–2100

Ecosystems[]

Coral reefs[]

In January 2017 the Japanese environment ministry said that 70% of the Sekisei lagoon in Okinawa, Japan's biggest coral reef, had been killed by coral bleaching.^[12] Coral reefs house many fish, so this had, and will have, terrible consequences.

Mitigation and adaptation[]

Policies and legislation[]

As a member in the Paris Agreement, Japan was the first nation to release a new national climate plan by 2020 as required in the 2015 agreement. However, this new plan included no major changes from the 2013 national climate plan, which aimed to reduce emissions by 26% from 2013 rates. This lack of aggressive action as the fifth largest polluter in the world led the World Resources Institute to describe the plan as "putting the world on a more dangerous trajectory." Similarly, the head of the World Wildlife Fund Japan climate and energy group, Naoyuki Yamagishi, described the plan as "completely the wrong signal."^[13]

In 2018, Japan established its Strategic Energy Plan, with goals set for 2030. The plan aimed to reduce coal use from 32 to 26 percent, to increase renewables from 17 to 22–24 percent, and to increase nuclear from 6 to 20–22 percent of the energy production mix. As part of this goal, Japan announced a goal of shutting down 100 old, low-efficiency coal-fired plants out of its 140 coal fired power plants. As of 2020, 114 of Japan's 140 coal-fired plants are deemed old and inefficient. Twenty-six are considered high-efficiency, and 16 new high-efficiency plants are currently under construction.^[14] As of 2021 construction of overseas coal power still is being funded.^[15] The Japanese government said that they would try to be carbon neutral as soon a possible in the second half of the century. The official goal of the Japanese government is to be net zero in 2050.^[16][17]

The Cool Biz campaign introduced under former Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi was targeted at reducing energy use through the reduction of air conditioning use in government offices..^{[citation needed]}

At municipality level[]

Local governments, both prefectures and municipalities, are responsible for creating their own climate change adaptation plans under the Climate Change Adaptation Act, which came into force in December 2018. They are also tasked with creating Local Climate Change Adaptation Centers to study climate change adaptation, which can be established in partnership with research institutes, universities, or other appropriate local institutions. By 2021, 22 of the 47 prefectures and 30 of the 1,741 municipalities had established plans, while 23 prefectures and 2 municipalities had established research centers. While local governments can create joint plans and centers under the legislation, by 2021 none had done so.^[18]

Japan's capital Tokyo is preparing to force industry to make big cuts in greenhouse gases, taking the lead in a country struggling to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations. Tokyo's outspoken governor, Shintaro Ishihara, decided to go it alone and create Japan's first emissions cap system, reducing greenhouse gas emission by a total of 25% by 2020 from the 2000 level.^[19]

On June 25, 2008, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly approved a program for the reduction of CO
2 emissions starting in 2010. About 1,300 large offices and factories in Tokyo that consume electric power equivalent to 1,500 kilolitres of crude oil annually must reduce CO
2 emissions by 15–20% of the average volume from the three years before this bylaw. Even with emissions trading or cap-and-trade, if the targeted reduction not is achieved by 2020, a penalty of up to JPY500,000 will be charged. This penalty chargeable regulation is the first in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

International cooperation[]

Japan created the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan to lay out the necessary measures required to meet their 6% reduction commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. It was first established as an outcome of the evaluation of the Climate Change Policy Program carried out in 2004. The main branches of the plan are ensuring the pursuit of environment and economy, promoting of technology, raising public awareness, utilizing of policy measures, and ensuring international collaboration.^[20]

Society and culture[]

Activism[]

Calculations in 2021 show that to give the world a 50% chance of avoiding a temperature rise of 2 degrees or more, Japan should increase its climate commitments by 49%.^[21] For a 95% chance, it should increase the commitments by 151%. For a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees, Japan should increase its commitments by 229%.^{[21]:Table 1} A March 2021 analysis by Climate Action Tracker said that Japan should reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that by 2030 the emissions are 60% below 2013 levels; this would support a goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C.^[22]

See also[]

• Energy in Japan
• Cool Earth 50
• Environmental issues in Japan

References[]