about places in offices or homes and how much of carbon dioxide is being emitted. Thus, it is deemed difficult for these sectors to reduce emissions as the industry sector (factories, etc.) does by reviewing and altering their own processes. However, as seen from the results of the "Fact-finding Survey on Environmentally Friendly Lifestyles," people today are thought to be interested in making their own efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Since the commercial and residential sectors have not yet taken substantial actions to reduce emissions and have a lot of waste and unevenness in the use of energy, there is much to be done in these sectors.

From the viewpoint of further room for global warming countermeasures, it is also very important to take possible measures for the whole spectrum of the supply chain, paying attention not only to the seemingly most principal carbon dioxide emission processes like the process of manufacturing but also to emissions from the process of raw materials procurement (upstream) as well as the processes of shipments and distribution of products, use and disposal, etc. (downstream). In considering countermeasures throughout the supply chain, companies should take note of not only emissions caused by their own activities but also emissions stemming from activities of affiliated companies in business operations, including those overseas.

As an example of emissions reduction efforts through the entire supply chain, a diversified chemicals manufacturer succeeded in reducing carbon dioxide emitted in the processes of ore refining to manufacturing by 74% compared with emissions it emits when the company starts from ore refining on its own by focusing on the resources procurement process and switching to the closed loop recycling of scrap aluminum. If Japanese companies are procuring parts overseas or have transferred assembly processes abroad and are emitting large quantities of carbon dioxide, they could transfer Japanese technologies overseas and cut emissions from operations there. Another Japanese manufacturer found that there is considerable room, or waste, in the average trucking load by focusing on the distribution process, an area to which little attention has been paid hitherto. The spread of these efforts is much desired going forward.

If we are to extend the approach of capturing the whole process ranging from upstream to downstream operations comprehensively nationwide, there may be companies in various industries that have to depend on the procurement of raw materials overseas with the low degree of environmental-friendliness, or there may be companies that import products that emitted large quantities of carbon dioxide in the process of manufacturing. In Japan, on the other hand, there are a lot of products that have been manufactured in environmentally friendly processes or that have high environmental performance. It is conceivable that such products are exported and are contributing to emissions reductions in destination countries. Looking at such instances comprehensively, it is desirable that Japanese industry as a whole develops an industrial structure that makes it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a global perspective.

On this basis, the Japanese steelmaking industry’s emissions are about 40% less than overseas steelmakers in terms of an amount of carbon dioxide emitted to produce the same amount of crude steel. By exporting large quantities of steel produced with this excellent technology, it is assumed that Japanese steelmakers are

Figure2-4-7 Offsetting credit (J-VER) Scheme

Source: Ministry of the Environment