The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), fresh from its landslide victory in the Aug. 30 elections, has made a lot of promises and has much to prove, its green policies being a case in point. New Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made an impressive international debut at the recent U.N. General Assembly, pledging to cut CO2 emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, a welcome initiative in the run-up to December's Copenhagen environmental summit. His DPJ embraces far more progressive positions on the environment than its predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), more than tripling the 8 percent cuts it pledged. Predictably, the Japanese business community has criticized this ambitious goal, claiming it will stifle economic recovery and growth, sacrificing jobs in a quixotic quest to protect the environment.
Hatoyama's pledge -- long on vision, vague on details -- is an opportunity for Japan to demonstrate leadership on a crucial global issue. The pledge is conditional on other major emitters getting on board, ratcheting up pressure on the United States, China, and India to do their part. While the caveat gives Hatoyama some wiggle room, it also opens the door for backsliding. Meanwhile, the initiative puts Japan into the environmental limelight, a place it might not want to be, given its surprisingly poor record on meeting previous pledges on CO2 reductions.
Certainly, the country that brought us the Kyoto Protocol, built the Toyota Prius, and produces only 4 percent of global CO2 emissions (compared with 20 percent each for the United States and China) must be doing something right. Japan's factories are energy efficient, and in the three decades since 1979, its GDP has doubled while its industrial-sector energy consumption has remained flat. In areas such as mass transit, Japan is miles ahead of the United States.
But Japan's environmental record it not as stellar as it may appear. Japan has not met its Kyoto Protocol target of a 6 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels, instead chalking up a 9 percent rise since then. In terms of carbon emissions per capita, Japan is at about one-half U.S. levels, and even with Britain, Germany, and South Korea. It exceeds Spain, Italy, France, and Sweden. Surprisingly, household emissions of CO2 have increased a dramatic 40 percent in Japan since 1990 though the country has embraced what is perceived as a relatively green lifestyle, with extensive recycling and widespread residential use of solar energy panels.
Japan relies on oil for 48 percent of its energy needs, the second highest level in the OECD after Italy. In Japan, coal-fired plants account for nearly 30 percent of total power supply, up from only 10 percent 30 years ago. Coal releases more CO2 when burned than oil or natural gas, so increases in its use are not consistent with achieving the goal of a low-carbon society, even if new clean-burning technologies make coal-fired plants more environmentally friendly. Surprisingly, primary energy consumption was increasing in Japan by 2.3 percent between 1997 and 2007 while declining in Germany by 8.7 percent.
In recent years Japan has not only surrendered its lead in solar power, but has also made very little progress on other renewable energy sources such as wind, waves, and biofuels. The LDP target for renewable energy use in 2014 was less than 2 percent of Japan's total energy supply -- not much compared with Denmark, which generates 20 percent of its power from wind alone based on generous subsidies and tax incentives. As of 2007 the share of electricity generated by all renewable energy sources in Japan, excluding large-scale hydropower, stood at 0.7 percent, while in Germany the same number stands at 14 percent.
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