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nttrroodduuccttiioonnDuring the past two years, Japan and the UK have jointly hosted a series of expert
workshops to explore both visions of low-carbon societies and practical steps toachieve them. Through the workshop series we have studied the necessity,
urgency and feasibility of local, national and international action on reducing global
greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable development, and have developed ashared understanding of low-carbon societies and their impacts on future
development pathways and economic growth.

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A set of key areas have been identified as being critical to put us on global
low-carbon pathways which are consistent with achieving climate change anddevelopment goals:
••
•••

•

•

The development of low-carbon societies is essential and plays an integral part inaddressing climate change mitigation and adaptation;
It is less costly to move towards low-carbon societies than to delay climatechange mitigation and pay the resulting increased adaptation costs;
A suite of policy options is required to facilitate the transition to low-carbon
societies. Government leadership is crucial to set the enabling conditions underwhich individuals, business and organisations can benefit from the opportunities
in new low-carbon markets, technologies, products and services;
Substantial changes will be required in the built environment, transport, utilities,industrial and service sectors. These will need to be implemented in harmony
with development goals. A portfolio of sustainable emission reduction measures
is required, which take into account regional and national circumstances;
Synergies between sustainable development approaches and the transition to
low-carbon societies can deliver significant economic, social and environmental
co-benefits;
A shift to investment in low-carbon technology research, development,demonstration and deployment (RDD&D), emerging markets, products andservices is required to deliver the long-term certainty needed to create incentives
to invest in low-carbon choices; andThe creation of low-carbon consumption options, coupled with enhanced
consumer awareness, can help to enable the level of behaviour change required
to make the transition to low-carbon societies

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Based on our findings from the workshop series, we the International Steering
Committee for the Japan-UK collaboration on achieving low-carbon societies call1

upon the Heads of State for the G8 and emerging economies to place a priority indelivering necessary measures in the following areas, in order to enable thetransition to a low-carbon world. The series of workshops have identified essential
actions to be:
•••

••••
••

••

•
•

The establishment of a long-term goal for global greenhouse gas emissions
reductions of at least 50% of 2000 levels by 2050;
A rapid enhancement of international cooperation and sharing of expertise andbest practise on achieving low-carbon societies between nations and in national,
regional and international stakeholders;
The Creation of appropriate incentives for business using long-term policy
signals to strengthen carbon pricing e.g. through taxation and enhanced
international emissions trading;
The need to shift the focus of development investment in developing countries
towards lower-carbon approaches, and towards a significant expansion in thedeployment of existing low-carbon technologies in both developed anddeveloping countries;
Acceleration in energy efficiency improvement using incentives to encourage
institutional and behavioural change;
The expansion of current financial flows, international cooperation in low-carbon
approaches and the development of new financing mechanism;
A significant increase in funding for research and development for advancedtechnologies;
Greater investment in the demonstration and deployment of near-market
technologies and, in particular, the rapid deployment of carbon capture andstorage technology at scale
Adjusting trade regimes to encourage rapid deployment of technologies andproducts that enhance sustainable development while lowering carbon
emissions;
The Implementation of policies and frameworks which enable and promote achange in human behaviour and lifestyle, through providing consumers withnecessary information and the opportunity to benefit from low-carbon
approaches and in the removal of high carbon-intensive choices;
A Shift, in a revenue neutral manner, taxation structures from income-based toenvironmental-based to encourage behaviour from business and individuals
which internalises the cost of choices on global emissions;the development of new indicators that measure quality of life in a moremeaningful way than GDP which effectively measures quantity of consumption;
The building of trust within and between nations is essential to reinforce thecredibility of long term goals and policies. Trust can only be built by continuing
and enhancing dialogue between stakeholder groups within countries andbetween countries with diverse national circumstances.

International Steering Committee
Tokyo, Japan
February, 20082