consumed more and more, with increasing speed, as the world promoted mass production and mass consumption (Figure 3-1-1).

It can be estimated that a continuing heavy consumption of fossil fuels at the current pace would result in an exhaustion of those resources on Earth in the near future. Humans are about to use up those fossil fuels in such a short period of time after the Industrial Revolution, despite the fact that it took hundreds of millions of years for those fuels to be formed and stored, in the course of a long process from carbon sequestration through photosynthesis, stabilization as organic substances, to underground accumulation.

The heavy consumption of fossil fuels has also invited the excess of $ CO_{2} $ emissions over the potential of natural systems to handle them.

Modern human society has consumed a large volume of fossil fuels out of limited resources and released a more-than-absorbable amount

Figure 3-1-1: Global CO₂ Emissions from Fossil-Fuel Burning and Gas Flaring

Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) of the U.S. Department of Energy

of $ CO_{2} $ into the atmosphere. As a result, the atmospheric $ CO_{2} $ concentration has been rising higher and higher. It can be said that modern society is far from sustainable.

In order to protect the integrity of ecosystems with an understanding of their significant contribution to the basis of our living and ensure sustainability of humanity, we must build a society where a balance between emissions and absorptions of the atmospheric GHGs (including $ CO_{2} $ ) can be maintained so that global warming will not reach a critical level.

## Section 2: Current Status of Countermeasures and the Contribution of Technologies

Global $ CO_{2} $ emissions as of 2004 were 26.5 billion tons in total. Of those, the United States occupied the largest share at 22.1%, followed by China at 18.1%. Japan was in the fourth position, accounting for 4.8%. In FY2005, Japan emitted a total of 1.36 billion tons of GHG ( $ CO_{2} $ equivalent), which was up 7.8% from 1990 (1995 for HFC, PFC and $ SF_{6} $ ). Various countermeasures against global warming have been introduced so far in Japan, and the following paragraphs will explain the current status of the implementation of those countermeasures and the significant contribution of our technologies to those measures.

### 1. Status of Various Countermeasures against Global Warming

In an effort to global warming countermeasures, the international society adopted the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in May 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997 (entered into force in February 2005).

The Kyoto Protocol sets numerical targets of emissions reduction for respective countries, with the goal of reducing collective GHG emissions from all advanced countries during 2008 and 2012 by 5% compared to the year 1990. Under the Protocol, Japan is required to attain a 6% reduction.

In this situation, the Japanese government established, through the Cabinet meeting in April 2005, the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan, which covers necessary policy measures to be taken to attain the reduction target. Those policy measures included in the Plan can be categorized into the following four types: (1) policy measures concerning GHG emissions reduction and removals, (2) cross-sectoral measures including national movements and efforts to be initiated by public organizations, (3) measures for establishing the foundation for activities, such as the promotion of technology development and international cooperation, and (4) policy measures concerning the Kyoto mechanisms (Figure 3-2-1). Those respective policy measures are explained in detail in the Plan. For example, category (1) covers the measures for forest sink, and category (3) covers the CCS (Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage) technology and “adaptability” improvement measures (See Columns). Based on this Plan, the integral promotion of diverse measures is underway, including the implementation of energy-saving measures, introduction of renewable energies and promotion of national movements to review life styles, etc.

Approximately 90% of the total GHG emissions in Japan are regarded as energy-originated carbon dioxide. Policy measures for reducing such $ CO_{2} $ emissions include technology-based “measures for individual energy-related equipment,” and “promotion of efforts at individual workplaces and businesses, etc.” as well as “establishment of low-carbon socioeconomic mechanisms,