### 1. Environmental Information as a Base

Environmental information provides the recipient with an opportunity to become interested in and think about environmental issues, enhancing environmental awareness and triggering environmental conservation activities.

The act of disseminating environmental information itself helps to promote one’s own environmental conservation activity. For example, when a business operator grasps the actual situation of the environmental load his business generates, he will be able to implement more effective environmental control. Moreover, by disclosing environmental information to the public, it becomes possible to evaluate one’s company’s environmental conservation activities by comparing them with other companies, serving as an incentive for further reduction of environmental load.

In addition, through two-way exchange of environmental information, mutual understanding is deepened, giving birth to better ideas for solutions. These solutions will have a greater environmental conservation impact than the one-way communication. Some companies set up venues for dialogue with the general public, using their environmental reports as a material.

All actors, including the government, businesses, and citizens' groups, are sending out various kinds of environmental information through white papers, pamphlets, and the Internet. Of the environmental information provided by public institutions, those available on the Internet are listed by category in the table below.

Environmental Information Available on the Internet

Category	Contents/URLs	Originator	Information for:
Search	Learning	Action
General	General environmental policy
http://www.env.go.jp/en/	Ministry of the Environment	◎
General environmental policy
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/index.html	Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry	◎
Environmental Statistics
http://www.env.go.jp/doc/toukei/ (Only in Japanese)	Ministry of the Environment	◎
General environmental information
http://www.eic.or.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	National Institute for Environmental Studies	◎	◎	◎
General environmental information
http://eco.goo.ne.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	Environmental goo	◎	◎	◎
Environmental partnership
http://geic.hq.unu.edu/	Global Environment Information Centre	◎	◎
Environmentally conscious lifestyle	Wa-no-kurashi
http://www.wanokurashi.ne.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	Ministry of the Environment	◎	◎
Re-style
http://www.re-style.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	Ministry of the Environment	◎	◎	◎
Green purchasing
http://www.gpn.jp/English/index.html	Green Purchasing Network	◎	◎
Environmental education	Information on environmental education
http://www.eeel.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of the Environment	◎	◎	◎
Business	Environmental report
http://www.kankyohokoku.jp/y_eng.asp	Ministry of the Environment	◎
Global warming	Global warming
http://www.jccca.org/en/	Japan Center for Climate Change Actions (JCCCA)	◎	◎	◎
Information on energy saving
http://www.eccj.or.jp/index_e.html	Energy Conservation Center, Japan	◎	◎	◎
Information on new energy
http://www.nedo.go.jp/english/index.html	New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization	◎
Waste and recycling	Waste and recycling
http://www.cjc.or.jp/ (Only in Japanese)	Clean Japan Center	◎	◎
Air	Atmospheric environment and asthma
http://www.erca.go.jp/english/index.html	Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency	◎	◎
Natural environment	Internet Nature Institute
http://www.sizenken.biodic.go.jp/	Ministry of the Environment	◎	◎

Notes:

Search: contains pages mainly for searching for relevant information

Learning: contains pages mainly for explaining related information in detail for learning and research

Action: contains pages mainly for disseminating information for environmental conservation activity at home and in the local community

Source: Ministry of the Environment