Kaze, May 2021
Sound environmental policy to come back
Saburo KATO
This July is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Ministry of theEnvironment of Japan (inaugurated as Environment Agency in 1971). It also
marks the 30th year since the inauguration of the Global Environmental
Department of the ministry. As the first Director of the department, I wasinterviewed for the compilation of the anniversary publication. To prepare for theinterview, I pulled out my old notes to call up my memories of the early days ofthe ministry.
Currently, the environmental policy of Japan has fallen far behind the otherleading countries. Its backward-looking attitude has been criticized at COP
meetings and awarded the “Fossils of the Day” twice! However, until the 1980s,
Japan was a top runner in this field. On this occasion, let me list up some of themost important environmental events related to the government of Japan.
(1) Combat and win over serious industrial pollutions
As the result of the high-speed economic development after WWII, Japan
experienced decades of serious industrial pollution including Minamata disease(mercury poisoning), Itai-Itai disease (cadmium poisoning), and Yokkaichi
asthma. The government of Japan enacted the Basic Act for Environmental
Pollution Control in 1967 and established the Environmental Agency in 1971,
launching full-scale efforts to combat serious pollutions. By the mid-1970s,
Japan was able to retrieve clean air and water, and in 1977 OECD highly
evaluated Japan’s achievement stating that Japan won the combat with publicpollutions. This example showed that massive anti-pollution measures did notinterfere with favorable economic growth.
(2) Strongly supported the east and southeast Asian countries in the form ofenvironmental cooperation

Based on the successful anti-pollution experience and backed by financial
power in those days, Japan implemented extensive environmental cooperation
to China and Southeast Asian countries. Especially to China, Japan provided ahuge amount of support, far larger than one trillion yen promised at the Earth
Summit in 1972. At the same time, Japan sent out experienced local
government officials to developing countries as part of environmental
cooperation in human resources.
(3) Champion the establishment of the SD concept
Japan made a great contribution in establishing the concept of sustainable
development which is the most important philosophical pillar of today’s world.
The World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro
Harlem Brundtland of Norway, publicized the report entitled “Our commonfuture” (Brundtland Report) in 1987 in Tokyo. The government of Japanproposed the establishment of the commission in 1982 and funded it. It is thehonor of the Japanese people that Japan's contribution opened a path totoday's SDGs.
(4) Establishment of the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 at COP3 held in Kyoto, Japan. The
government of Japan made an utmost effort to wrap up UNFCCC negotiationssetting up numerical targets while introducing the Kyoto mechanisms(emission trading, CDM, JI) to achieve the targets. The Kyoto Protocol
provided the first concrete step toward emission reduction to prevent globalwarming.
I am very proud of these Japan’s contributions to progress global climate
negotiations, starting from the establishment of the Brundtland Committee in1984, down to the adoption of SDGs in 2015.
However, Japan’s environment policy went into a dark ages from 2012
when the second Abe administration started. Abenomics, overly emphasizing
economic development, did not pay any attention to climate change issues evenafter the Paris Agreement in 2015. During the 7 years and 8 months of the second
Abe administration, Japan’s environmental and energy policy did not make aprogress in the right direction, inviting criticism from NGOs and sensible businesspersons.
It was the Suga administration (succeeding the Abe administration in2020) that made a breakthrough by declaring that Japan will achieve carbonneutral by 2050. The declaration drastically changed Japan's energy policy, and adomino phenomenon toward decarbonization started in local communities as wellas in business entities.
The actual impact of this domino phenomenon is yet to be determined but
there is hope. Prime Minister Suga promised at the Leaders Summit on Climate
convened by President Biden in April 2021 that Japan will reduce GHGs to 46% by2030, making additional efforts to 50% below the 2013 level. Now that theinternational commitment was made, Japan’s environmental policy will head in
this direction. Then Japan’s business community as a whole will become serious
about the decarbonizing economy. I believe Japan will resume soundenvironmental policies in due course.