Japan vows to cut emissions by 15% below 2005 levels by 2020

Wednesday 10th June, 07:22 PM JST

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GG2141 at 07:54 PM JST - 10th June

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to bring U.S. emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020,

So back to driving 6.3l / V-8 / Escalades then !!!
cow76 at 08:16 PM JST - 10th June

Should be easy now that Hummers are dead in the water. I look forward to living in a cleaner Japan in the future. Even if global warming is false (although I choose to believe a majority of scientists who understand this issue and have no incentive to lie), a cleaner environment is still a thing we all would like.
ThonTaddeo at 09:06 PM JST - 10th June

Oh, great, now we can look forward to an even hotter, sweatier, more strength-sapping environment as the government's beloved "Cool Biz" expands even further and becomes mandatory in the private sector too.

I'm as much in favor of a cleaner environment as anyone, but there has to be a more comfortable, healthier way to do it than to keep room temperatures at the insane levels that the government wants.

And let's not forget, folks, that in 1990 (unlike now) company employees worked in air-conditioned comfort! If they could do it, we can too!
presto345 at 09:11 PM JST - 10th June

Ambitious target, challenging target. But now I would like to hear how exactly the prime minister is going to achieve this.
some14some at 09:59 PM JST - 10th June

Achievable goal if Japan becomes purely a fishing island far from industrialized world.
bakabaka at 10:23 PM JST - 10th June

They will achieve it by redefining the parameters and discounting "troublesome" data.
888naff at 11:15 PM JST - 10th June

Good that the cuts will(?) come from within the country rather than half the headline cuts from say the eg: EU coming from outside the EU and hidden in carbon trading... what a business minded way of dealing with or sweeping up a problem.

I know a lot of Japanese now in th EU had this image of the EU being green ( what with all the greenpeace "organizations" beating their drum around the world) before they moved there; but were quite upset and shocked when they saw the reality seeing how little the locals cared about or are educated about or cm's on tv, engineering advancements, etc.. leaving them to think Japan is doing a good job.

I'm sure there will be exactly the same kind of posts here from people living the other side of the coin: foreigners in Japan, saying the same but opposite, etc about how bad Japan is compared to back home. "this would never happen back home" (LOL how Japanese).

Anyway it seems that some more are now realising there is money to be made in being green and new industries to be developed, so hopefully that will help drive things.
Good_Jorb at 12:41 AM JST - 11th June

Easy enough, restrict the amount of energy that pachinko parlor's can use on thier outside lighting and bingo huge energy savings. Just make sure the pa doesn't burn out.
TokyoHustla at 03:17 AM JST - 11th June

Will the population decline be enough to take care of this?
Molenir at 04:32 AM JST - 11th June

Come on people. Lets make it a tough target, lets cut emissions by 200%. Better yet, lets make it 1000%. That will really impact global warming right! Heh, don't think so, but at least people will feel good about doing something for the environment, even if in reality they're not.
Good_Jorb at 04:44 AM JST - 11th June

Emissions = burning carbon = oil. Japan is a net-importer of oil, therefore; it would make economic sense to import less oil. It's something all nations that are net-importer of oil need to do. Why send your wealth to other countries?
the_sicilian at 06:31 AM JST - 11th June

Actually, a Hummer does not produce that much in the way of excess CO2, unlike older, untuned cars. It's actually pretty good. It's just a crutch for greenies.

Oh, and the human effect on global warming has been debunked by a lot of real scientists. Not Al Gore hired ones.

More automotive pollution comes from India than the US and Japan combined. I think Aso said this to curry favor so he is not run out of office.

Ciao
soldave at 09:09 AM JST - 11th June

You've got to love the bias. Most other news agencies are reporting in their headline that Japan is being slammed for very little action in emissions cutting. Kyodo News reports that Japan will be leading global efforts against climate change.
stirfry at 02:49 PM JST - 11th June

blah blah blah blah...blah blah blah...
usaexpat at 11:56 PM JST - 11th June

Isn't this a much more modest target than the Kyoto Protical called for? I thought Kiyoto wanted something like 50% below 1990 levels. I guess they figured out that wasn't going to be possible.