Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
International comparison of transition of eco-efficiency associated with carbon dioxide

Presentation: Prepared by the Ministry of the Environment based on OECD "Environmental Date 1999" and EDMC $ ^{™} $ Summary of Economy of Energy Statistics $ ^{™} $

The eco-efficiency in Japan is progressing as described above. In comparison with other countries using carbon dioxide as an example, the eco-efficiency of Japan is extremely high although other countries have shown improvements in eco-efficiency.

However, such eco-efficiency in each country is still not adequate.

As discussed in Section 1, the impact on the global environment is still increasing and the balance between human activities and the ecosystem such as environmental purification is quite unstable. To improve this situation, reduction of the envi-

Move toward a sustainable society

Presentation: Prepared by the Ministry of the Environment based on the data of EEA (European Environment Agency)

ronmental load as a whole is imperative and to realize this objective, the eco-efficiency must be improved to a level exceeding the economic growth.

Japan once steadily increased the eco-efficiency during the stable economic growth period. Therefore, it is possible to improve the eco-efficiency while achieving economic growth. In particular, Japan holds the 2nd position in the world on the economic scale and emits about 5% of world's carbon dioxide, which ranks it in the 4th position in the world. Thus, under the circumstances where Japan is imposing a serious environmental load on the Earth and reduction of the environmental load is

a serious issue on the global scale, Japan must make greater efforts in improvements of eco-efficiency by utilizing its experiences.
# Chapter 2

# Activities by Each Entity Towards Construction of a Socio Economic System with Minimum Environment Load

##

Many of today’s environmental problems are caused by the daily life of citizens and business activities, and thus the problems are caused by many and unspecified entities. To realize a sustainable society, each entities unit such as citizens, enterprises, and the government must take active measures towards a reduction of the environment load voluntarily in all the aspects of the society.

This chapter examines the background and the awareness regarding the various new activities that are being started by each entity such as citizens, enterprises, and the government.

### 1. Change of Activities by Citizens

## 1 ) Change of awareness and behavior

Recently, a new factor called consideration of the environment has been added to the decision-making factors of consumers at the purchase point of goods. For instance, according to the replies of the survey, about 95% of consumers consider environmental conservation when purchasing goods. About 70% of consumers indicated that they would purchase environmentally concerned goods even if they are more expensive than other goods. With a change of awareness such as this, measures for providing environmental information of goods has provided support for the green purchase movement that gives higher priority to products and services of low environment load at the time of purchasing. Such a change is influencing the market and, for fifteen product fields that are the major targets of green purchase, the sales volume of the environmentally concerned products account for 30% of the total sales volume.

Such a change of awareness and behavior towards purchase by consumers has changed the role of enterprises in the society in response to request by the citizens, and some survey results show that about 70% of those replied indicated environmental protection as the efforts to be made by enterprises to gain social credibility. With a such level of concern by the citizens as the background, there have been some external movements to assess which enterprises are giving considerations to environmental issues and to what extent, such as rewarding the measures taken by enterprises for environmental conservation and establishment of a ranking of environmental management.

To what extent is consideration given to environment-friendly products at the time of purchasing of goods?

Source: "Report on the investigations of actual conditions regarding advertisement considering environmental consideration" by Bureau of Fair Trade Commission (March 2001)

Ratio of environment-friendly products to the total sales volume

Note: Result of the questionnaires sent to the manufacturers and distributors of environment-friendly products of 15 main product fields that are targeted by Law on Promotion of Green Purchasing regarding the ratio of the sales volume of the environment-friendly products to the total sale sales volume

Source: "The 6th Green Purchase Questionnaire Survey Result Report" by the Green Purchase Network (Survey period: October and November 2001)
Items that should be targeted by enterprises in the future to obtain social credence

Presentation: Prepared by the Ministry of the Environment based on "National Life monitor survey" by the Cabinet Office (implemented in September, 2001)

In this way, the increase of the interest of citizens towards the environment not only changes goods purchasing activities but also becomes the background of behavioral change of enterprises, thereby changing the market by increasing the range of the type of goods that are environmentally friendly.

## 2 ) Possibility of further reduction of environment load by citizens

The changes of the awareness of citizens are represented by various measures that are taken for environmental conservation and are demonstrated in various areas nationwide. There are many unique examples for promoting the "environmentally concerned life style." Various activities that are taken nationwide such as the example from Kawaguchi City that has nominated one day a year as the "Eco-life day for the City" to enable participation by anyone; the example of Hamatonbetsu in Hokkaido a wind power station was constructed as the citizens joint development, and the example of Kuriyama-town of Hokkaido where a local currency (economy) is issued to activate exchange of services that cannot create market values easily, such as environmental conservation through the initiative of local residents.

Map of the major regions that are going to promote eco-money (as of March 2002)

In spite of such measures, the energy consumption in the household sector is increasing as indicated in Chapter 1. This

is because the nation’s awareness towards various measures for reduction of environmental load (such as energy conservation) is still insufficient to control the increase of the environment load by each household, such as the spread of household electrical appliances and the tendency towards larger capacities.

In this modern age where the actions taken by each citizen are critical, it has become necessary to realize the "eco-living", which reforms the modern life style that causes environmental problems to a more environmentally concerned and more humanistic and rich life style for everybody. From such a standpoint, Conference on "Wa-no-Kuni-Kurashi" (http://www.wanokurashi.ne.jp) was established for the participation of opinion leaders of each industry, particularly regarding global warming problems.
Number of soil contamination incidents that were detected each year

active recovery of the natural resources that were lost.

For the conservation of nature, the conventional discussions tend to revolve around the choice between protection or development. However, recently there have been many cases where the conservation of nature and regional revitalization can be integrated such as protection of Japanese crested ibis of Sado Island and designation of Yakushima as the world heritage site and other cases where environmental conservation measures and employment measures are integrated such as "Green employment business" of Wakayama Prefecture and "Shinshu Kikori Lecture" of Nagano Prefecture. Attempts for nature regeneration business have started through

Concerning the problems arising from chemical substances, it is important to note how effectively and economically the environmental load caused by chemical substances even can be reduced taking into account that sufficient scientific explanation of the influence is not necessary available. Initially, it is necessary to quantitatively assess the environmental risk, which is the risk of adverse influence of chemical substances on human health and the ecosystem, to introduce the concept of reduction of environmental risk as a whole, and to take precautionary approaches to prevent the occurrence of irreversible changes, assuming the existence of some degree of uncertainty.

In addition, enterprises have started to take voluntary management such as Responsible Care activities without being restricted by legal regulations. Furthermore PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers) was introduced whereby enterprises themselves check the emission and clarify the conditions such as emission of chemical substances to the environment, which is a fundamentally different method from the conventional regulatory method, such as promotion of further measures by enterprises.

Transition of production of four major resins

Presentation: Prepared by the Ministry of the Environment based on the "Chemical Industry Statistics Annual Report"

Example of activities taken by reducing harmful air contaminants in the Japan Responsible Care Council

The emission indicates the increase from the base figure, which is the emission of 1995, by stacking the increase in the graph as "new increase".

* The figures in the bar graph indicate the number of companies that submitted the data.

* The figures above the bar graph indicate the number of the companies whose emission increased from that of

Note: Indicates the substance reduction effects among the 12 substances that are targeted for voluntary control Source: "Responsible Care Report 2001" by the Japan Responsible Care Council

## 2 ) Concept in proceeding with environmental countermeasures

As discussed above, various key concepts can be found in determining the basic skeleton of measures in each field of environmental problems. These concepts can be applied over a wide range more generally, not only to specific environmental problems. To handle current environmental problems, accurate measures are necessary by using these various concepts.
economic growth and environmental load, the environmental load is low at the initial stage of economic growth and increases as the economic growth progresses, and after the economic growth reaches a certain stage, the environmental load decreases due to the development of environmental measures. Such a reverse U curve is called an environmental Kuznets curve. To achieve sustainable development, it is extremely effective for developing countries to reduce the degree of the reverse U curvature, instead of following the same development path as developed countries. For this

reason, it is important for developing countries to actively tackle environmental measures and at the same time to gain the cooperation of developed countries that have the knowledge of such measures.

In particular, in the Asian region, future rapid population increase and economical development are expected, resulting in an increase of environmental load causing instability of the regional society. The Japanese government, which is closely related to the Asian region in terms of the society, economy as well as environment, must make efforts for securing environmental, social and economical stability in the Asian region by allocating 30% of its official development assistance (ODA) to environmental proposals.

Actual examples of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the Asian region by the Japanese Government

4. Movement towards Construction of Sustainable Society

As discussed above, we are required to take further measures for reducing the environmental load. In the measures based on the current mass production, mass consumption, and mass waste producing socio economic system, the effects are limited. To build a sustainable society within the limited ecospace, it is necessary to review the current socio economic system itself.

Based on this concept, the Government established a "Harmonious Coexistence Conference" hosted by the Prime Minister in order to transform the society to the "sustainable simple society that emphasizes quality" and examined the measures for realization of Japan as the country of harmonious coexistence with the earth. In the discussions held in the conference, various suggestions were submitted under the recognition that "harmonious coexistence" is to reform the current socioeconomic structure, our livelihood, and our sense of value based on the environment viewpoint. The discussions suggested that the conventional socioeconomic system is to be changed to minimize the use of resources by economic activities, recycle the resources, and shift the contents of economic development from quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement.

As for the actual image of the new socio economic system, all the entities such as citizens, enterprises, and governments are to collectively make efforts and examine in reduction of the environmental load so that such a system is created. But some of the measures taken by the entities may lead to review of the current socio economic system.
For instance, the recent trend shows that consumers started to move away from the adherence to new items, to extended use of consumer durable goods and sharp increase of the used item retail industry, increase of consumers desiring "spiritual wealth" rather than "material wealth" and valuing having sufficient time for oneself. Thus, the sense of value towards the richness of society is changing. As discussed in Section 2 Chapter 2, a transformation may occur from utilization of materials to utilization of services that is de-materialization across the entire society, as seen in the increase of lease and rental services in many enterprises. This may produce the result that cannot be achieved by efficiency improvements of individual products. Vitalization of regions through improvement of voluntary measures relating to environment in regions indicates a direction different from the socio economic system based on the existing overconcentration on mass production.

Material wealth or spiritual wealth

$ ^{*} $ 1: Since materially satisfied to some degree, wished to emphasize the life of spiritual wealth.

$ ^{*} $ 2: Wished to emphasize material wealth

Source: Cabinet office "Survey of public opinions regarding National Life" by Cabinet office

As discussed adobe, the environment as the foundation of the world socio-economic system is in a serious condition in many fields. In fact, measures by enterprises and citizens have gradually started to penetrate and attempts are being made to improve eco-efficiency so that reduction of environmental load exceeds economic growth. However, to restrict the total environmental load to a certain range, it is necessary to fundamentally review the socio-economic system based on the current concept of mass production, mass consumption, and mass waste production and aim for transformation to a society of a new stage independent of resources and energy mass consumption with the maturing of the economy.

In this year as the 10th year from the Earth Summit, the Johannesburg Summit will be held and the meaning of sustainable

Definition of "Sustainable Society" in the Environmental Basic Plan

development will be discussed again. In this opportunity, we must contemplate what choice is to be made to start the first step for construction of a sustainable society and proceed with structural reform of the society based on the viewpoint of the environment for the future.
## Part 2 : Current Environmental Issues and Environmental Conservation Measures by Government

This part reports the current conditions of environmental problems and the environmental conservation measures that were implemented in 2001 based on the Basic Environment Plan under the Chapters indicated below. The following Chapters clarify the current conditions of environmental problems and issues in the major fields.

Chapter 1 Creating a Socio Economic System Based on Sound Material Cycles with Minimal Environmental Burden

Chapter 2 Basis of Measures, and Measures to Promote Participation of All Segments of Society

Chapter 3 Measures to Promote International Action

Chapter 4 Effective Implementation of the Basic Environment Plan

## 1 ) Global Scale Conservation of Air Environment

## (1) Global warming

With the recent expansion of human activities, a large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane gas is emitted into the air, enhancing greenhouse effects and increasing the possibility of global warming.

The 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates a rise of the average global surface temperature by $ 0.6 \pm 0.2^{\circ} $ C since 1861 and forecasts a further rise by $ 1.4^{\circ} $ C to $ 5.8^{\circ} $ C until 2100 and a rise of the sea level of between 9cm and 88cm. The observation by Japan Meteorological Agency indicates a rise of the average annual temperature by about $ 1.0^{\circ} $ C over the last 100 years and the influence of global warming on the natural environment is already detected such as reduction of the sea ice area of Sea of Okhotsk and a shift of natural habitat areas of animals and plants.

Transition of global CO₂ emission (1950-1996)

Among the greenhouse gases emitted in 1999 in Japan, the carbon dioxide emission accounts for 1,225 million tons and the emission per capita is 9.67 tons (both are based on carbon dioxide conversion). The emission per capita has increased by 6.3% since 1990 and the total emission shows an increase of 9.0%. The results by sector indicates an increase of 23.0% in the transportation sector, an increase of 20.1% in the public welfare (business) sector, and an increase of 15.0% in the public welfare (household) sector, while the result shows an increase of 0.8% in the industrial sector.

Chronological change of anomaly of average surface temperature in Japan in common year (1898 to 2001)

Note: The bar graph shows the value of each year. The blue line indicates the average shift change of the value in each year and the red line shows the long-term trend.

Presentation: Japan Metrological Agency

Condition of carbon dioxide emission by sector in Japan

Presentation: Ministry of the Environment
To solve global warming problems, the Japanese Government is to make its utmost efforts for approval of the conclusion of Kyoto Protocol in the 154th ordinary session of the Diet, and establishment of the domestic collateral law that is required for the approval regarding the greenhouse gas emission of developed countries in order to conclude in 2002 the Kyoto Protocol that sets constraints on emission values. In addition, the Government needs to enhance the measures in every site of the socio-economic system and organically combine measures of each aspect. At the same time, a fundamental measure is necessary in the future for reviewing and changing the mass production, mass consumption, and mass waste producing modern socio-economic system.

## (2) Ozone layer depletion

It became clear that the ozone layer is being depleted by ozone layer depletion substances such as chlorofluorocarbon (CFC). When an ozone layer is depleted, harmful ultra violet rays reach the Earth's surface, causing health hazards such as skin cancer or cataracts.

Ozone layers being depleted globally except over tropical areas and the rate of depletion is higher in the highest latitude regions. In Japan also, a statistically significant trend has been verified in Sapporo, and in the South Pole, the largest ozone hole in history was observed in 2000. The ozone layers are in a fragile condition due to the emission of man-made chemicals.

The Japanese Government controlled production of CFC by establishing the Ozone Layer Protection Law in 1988 established the "Law Regarding Recovery and Destruction of Freon Associated with Specific Products" in June 2001. This law made obligatory the recovery and destruction of Freon in commercial freezer air conditioners and car air conditioners.

## 2 ) Conservation of Air Environment (Excluding the global scale air environment) Air Environment

## (1) Acid rain

Acid rain is a rain that shows strong acidity for dissolved sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that are generated from combustion of fossil fuels and so on. The impact of acid rain over a wide range Pisces for the acidification of inland water was such as lakes, swamps, and rivers, and forests by acidification of soils, and acceleration of deterioration or collapse of trees and cultural heritage buildings by acid deposition, is feared.

pH distribution chart in rainfall

—: Not measured

*: Invalid data (discarded by the annual judgment criteria)

Notes: 1. Average value of the 2nd survey over 5 years (excluding missing measurement and the annual average values that were discarded)

2. In Tokyo, values are measured in different positions in the 2nd survey and the 3rd survey.

3. In Kurahashijima, values are measured in different positions in 1993 and 1994.

4. For Sapporo, Niitu, Hidake, and Tsukuba, the measurement frequencies are different in 1993 and from 1994 onwards.

5. Data of the winter closed points (Oze, Nikko, and Akagi) is excluded.

Source: "Summary of 3rd Acid Deposition Survey" by the Ministry of the Environment, Acid Deposition Countermeasure Review Meeting