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"Let us look up at the constellation-filled skies together" while unnecessary lights are all off, said Ichiro Kamoshita, Japan's environment minister at a recent press meeting.
In Japan, July 7 falls on the annual Star Festival, when two stars in the Milky Way make a legendary once-a-year rendezvous. Kamoshita was not indulging in that romantic legend, but as the environment minister of the host nation of the Kyoto Protocol, he is busy campaigning for “Cool Earth 50,” Japan's initiative to halve greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.
Since Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda declared the "Cool Earth Partnership" at the Davos Conference in Switzerland early this year, Japanese leaders have made it a virtual rule to refer to the proposal on every diplomatic occasion.
At the African Development Conference that opened Wednesday in Yokohama, Fukuda drew African leaders' attention to the need to lower carbon emissions as well as Japan’s contribution to the continent's development needs.
In an age of environment-friendly diplomacy, Kamoshita has become one of the most critically important ministers for the success of the upcoming G8 Summit. Monday he concluded final preparations for its environment agenda, at a three-day G8 plus 10 environment ministers' conference in Kobe, west of Tokyo.
Having listened to diverse, if not divisive, arguments, Kamoshita summed up the meeting by confirming participants' determination to reach the long-term goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Reports from Kobe indicate that the United States, the largest CO2-emitting nation, with one-fifth of the global total, and a non-signatory of the Kyoto accord, is changing its stance from outright rejection to accepting the 50 percent goal as a “target."
By 2005 statistics, over 15 billion tons of CO2 are accumulating in the earth's atmosphere every year, after 11 billion tons are absorbed by forests, seas and other natural systems.
As for a post-Kyoto formula, Kamoshita referred to Japan's proposed “sectorial approach” as a viable plan, in which each country would calculate its quantitative target by tallying the possible reduction rates in respective industries and sectors.
China and India, whose combined emissions amount to roughly one-fifth of the world’s total but are not bound by the Kyoto agreement, joined representatives from other developing nations in calling for a medium-term reduction target, in addition to the long-term goal.
To support the developing countries' efforts, Kamoshita emphasized that the G8 plus 10 ministers acknowledged the needs of environment-related technology transfer and financial assistance. Japan has earmarked about US$10 billion to support Cool Earth-related projects worldwide.
The Kobe conference was Kamoshita's second step forward after the Bali Action Plan at the U.N. Climate Change Conference last year in Indonesia. The plan committed all nations to aiming at a global agreement in 2009. "It was an epoch-making development," said Kamoshita later.
Still, the tension-filled global debate on climate change will be followed by July's G8 Summit, and further U.N. conferences in Poland later this year and in Denmark next year.
Japan, intent on leading these discussions, has also proposed the “Kobe Initiative,” where follow-up discussions on a post-Kyoto framework will be organized. Its first gathering will be held in Kobe this autumn.
As the leader of a low-carbon society, Japan’s Environment Ministry promotes, among other things, high-efficiency lights, renewable energy and CO2 capture and storage. As an innovative life and business style, it even envisages "compact cities" in which people can live comfortably without cars.
Japanese manufacturers are known for creating things that are lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller. Now it will add a product line of "lower" carbon emissions.
Already Japan's industrial sector has been constantly reducing its CO2 emissions by 4.6 percent between 1990 and 2006. This is highly commendable if compared with other sectors such as transportation, commercial and residential areas, all of which have shown a 15-30 percent increase.
But Japan is the No.2 economy in the world. Many developing nations are obviously more concerned about their vast impoverished populations than they are about clear skies.
At a symposium in Tokyo last week, Prime Minister Fukuda called for Asia-wide collaboration toward a low-carbon society to overcome climate change. But Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, in his 45-minute speech, did not utter a word on the environment or climate change. He repeatedly stressed that eradication of poverty is the priority in East Asia.
On the other hand, it is the developing countries whose carbon emissions show a constant and ominous upward curve thanks to their successful development, while those of developed nations remain almost flat, if not a downward trend.
Thus, if Japan is indeed serious about leading the world toward a low-carbon society, it may have to propose not just environment-friendly but poverty-solving technologies and lifestyles.
