## An event to announce the report on the Japan's Environmental Performance Review

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## The OECD's Environmental Performance Review Program

The OECD is an international organization where the governments work together to improve environmental policies through performance reviews of member countries, and to conduct assessment and make recommendations to improve the reviewed country's policies and programs. OECD Environmental Performance Reviews began in 1992, and every year the environmental policies and programs of approximately four countries are reviewed by other member countries. The main objective of this effort is to have member countries and related cooperating countries improve environmental performance of governments individually and collectively. So far Japan was reviewed twice, first in 1994. again in 2002, and the third review was conducted in May 2010 by the OECD Working Party on Environmental Performance of the Environment Policy Committee. The Performance Review covering Japan was released in November 2010 and the Review included a total of 38 environmental recommendations such as green growth, climate change, waste management, and biodiversity. The Report found that Japan has strong focus on energy efficiency and research and development, which Japan has effectively integrated with energy and climate policies, and that Japan is a world leader in climate-related research and development. At the same time, the OECD included following recommendations for Japan in order to further promote environmental policies. Since this reviews the implementation status of environmental policies and the status of the environmental improvement and publishes the result, it is expected

Japan's Environmental Performance Review

Source: Ministry of the Environment

source: Ministry of the Environment

that environmental policies suggested will be actively promoted in each of the member countries.

## Overview of the Recommendations in the Third Environmental Performance Review of Japan

●Review and update the 1993 Basic Environmental Law in order to consolidate, streamline, and make the existing body of laws more coherent.

●Clarify linkages and priorities among plans in different sectional plans and basic environmental plans.

●Mainstream environmental considerations in the 2011 tax reform, with a view to broadening the use of environmentally related taxes and reducing incentives and subsidies that have adverse environmental effects, or that contravene the polluter-pays-principle.

●Expand the use of economic instruments, for example trading schemes and user charges, to increase the economic efficiency of environmental policies; review the cost-effectiveness of regulatory instruments and agreements negotiated with industry.

●review transport-related taxation and pricing, with a view to directly linking taxes on the purchase and ownership of vehicles to their fuel efficiency, and to better targeting pollution related to vehicle use through fuel taxes and road pricing.

●Put a consistent price on carbon through emissions trading in combination with climate-related taxes; transform the trial emissions trading system (ETS) into a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme that is compatible as far as possible with trading schemes in other countries.

● Continue to promote the 3Rs strategies at the national and local levels, and implement fundamental plans for establishing a sound material-cycle society ([1] setting of targets on resource productivity by sector, and ([2] continual support towards support analysis of resource productivity by sector and material flows, including better assessment of trade-related flows and their associated environmental impacts.

●Develop a strategy for biodiversity corridors, particularly in forests and rivers, taking account of possible impacts of climate change.