Latest blog items
Worrisome Prospects for Japanese Climate PolicyPublished 8.3.2010 As anybody who has ever made a New Year’s resolution would know, making a big announcement is one thing, while “operationalizing” it is quite another. » |
REDDy to Emerge from the Sinkhole of LULUCFPublished 6.11.2009 There is a sense that developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol use the forestry sector as a slush fund to ease their responsibilities for the first commitment period. Hard work is currently under way to make sure that when action moves in the future to developing countries as well the environmental integrity of the climate regime is not jeopardized. » |
Post-2012 One-upmanship: Japan Stands by Its New TargetPublished 25.9.2009 A week after its inauguration on September 16, the new DPJ administration led by Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio is still keeping the course with respect to its commitment to contribute positively towards the post-2012 regime. » |
A Green Spring Coming to Japan?Published 31.8.2009 On Sunday night the Democratic Party of Japan swept victoriously into the country’s more powerful lower house. These developments may potentially hold far-reaching consequences for Japan’s negotiating position for this year’s Copenhagen conference. » |
Japanese Opinion Poll Supports 7% Emission CutsPublished 26.5.2009 45.4% of Japanese support a 7% cut in emissions relative to 1990 levels. The Japanese Minister of the Environment, in a break with his usual silence, reminded his fellow ministers that “-15% and -25% are among our options, as well”. Conversely, Keidanren quips that “the function of those in the administration is to advocate the national interest in order to prevent the excessive burdening of the population”. » |
Additional complexities for Japanese mid-term targetPublished 18.5.2009 The current public meetings on the country’s mid-term commitments for greenhouse gas emissions reductions are an unusual phenomenon in Japanese domestic politics. Still, participants, consisting largely of climate NGOs and representatives of business interests instead of average citizens, predictably clashed over seemingly irreconcilable differences. » |
Economy versus the Environment on Japan's Road to CopenhagenPublished 22.4.2009 2 comment(s) One Japanese Prime Minister after the other talks big about Japanese climate leadership for the 21st century. It is puzzling to see that Tokyo’s figure for the crucial upcoming Copenhagen negotiations is, less than eight months before the meeting, still anybody’s guess due to wrangling between industry and climate advocates. » |
Climate Control a Means to Prevent Climate Wars?Published 23.3.2009 ‘Climate Wars’, written by Gwynne Dyer, a reservist of the British, Canadian and US navies, a holder of a Ph.D. in war studies from the University of London, and author of a plethora of books on the Middle East conflict, proves that climate alarmism has finally reached the mainstream. Mr Dyer presents a simple thesis: scientists and top military officers agree that global warming will have brutal consequences for global security, and not enough is being done to avert these threats. » |
Save the world? Drive electric!Published 26.2.2009 Director Chris Paine presents the history of the EV1, marketed for the first time by the US car manufacturer General Motors in 1996. The car ran entirely on battery power and thus produced literally no exhaust. Still, by late 2005 the entire fleet of these wonder cars was gone. Paine’s documentary seeks to explain the political mechanics behind the disappearance of these automobiles. » |
