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This article examines changes in Japan’s policies related to climate change, focusing on three notable events that could have significantly altered Japan’s decisions on climate change: (a) the hosting of the Third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, (b) the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in March 2011, and (c) the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 and its early enforcement in November 2016. The study shows that the Japanese government’s position remained fundamentally the same throughout these events. It called for emission reduction targets that would not harm the Japanese economy, considered nuclear power to be the least costly way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and avoided any mention of a 2°C mean global temperature rise as the long-term target. Meanwhile, after the Paris Agreement came into effect in 2016, an increasing number of Japanese private companies and local governments started taking voluntary actions to reduce their respective emissions, independent of national policy. These changes by sub/non-state actors have begun to alter decision-making at the national government level and could be a sign of transformational changes in Japan, wherein these new actors’ voices have a greater influence on Japan’s climate change policy than those of the traditional state-based actors.

Asia-Pacific lacks an environmental leader. Japan, a forerunner of environmental regulation in the 1970s, started to engage in active environmental diplomacy in the post-Cold War era by hosting conferences of parties to multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as providing a massive amount of environmental aid. Then, in the 2000s, Japan’s initiatives became substantially weakened and have gained a negative international reputation as the country took a considerably passive position to the Paris Agreement, filed many reservations to the CITES listing decisions, and withdrew from the International Whaling Commission. This article explores, through six brief case studies, the factors and structures that systemically impede Japan’s environmental leadership and norm internalization. It highlights the constraining factors behind Japan’s devolution including its closed bureaucratic system and the lack of positive engagement of Japanese scientists. Finally, it addresses the future prospects of environmental cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

As the level of understanding about climate change has increased, the term “climate security” has been increasingly used in the rapidly growing literature on this subject. Although Japan has officially acknowledged the importance of tackling climate change, discussion of climate security has been almost nonexistent among Japanese governmental officials, politicians, and academics. Our aim was to trace discourses related to climate security in Japan to determine why so little exists in Japan and whether or not such discourse could suggest new areas for consideration to more comprehensively respond to the climate change problem. Because of different interpretations and uses of the term “climate security” in the existing literature, we first categorized existing approaches to climate security into four types and used this categorization to examine Japan’s discourse from these perspectives. Two of the approaches, namely “long-term irreversible planetary changes” and “short-term abrupt risks to individuals”, had been considered in Japan previously but without specific reference to the term climate security. The other two, “cause of conflict and violence” and “impacts to military and defense organizations”, however, had not been used and need to be included in discussions of climate change in Japan. Some of the topics not discussed in Japan include indirect economic losses of Japanese industries via supply chains, loss of Japan’s exclusive economic zone due to sea-level rise, and the potential inflow of refugees resulting from extreme weather patterns outside of Japan.

Understanding the criteria underlying development in a country is crucial to formulating developmental plans. However, it is not always clear which criteria are more important than others in different countries and at different times. The relationship between developmental criteria and the stage of economic development is also unclear in many countries. Therefore, we devised an indirect stated preference approach for the measurement of the importance of developmental criteria and employed it in four Asian countries—Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam—to measure the importance of sustainable development (SD) criteria perceived by the general public. Specifically, we evaluated the importance of 58 national goals linked to 1 of 11 SD criteria. Security, efficiency, accessibility, capability, and environmental capacity were perceived as relatively important by respondents in all four countries. The respondents perceived that the currently important criteria would be important in the future as well. The order of the importance in each country differed. For example, environmental capacity was ranked lower, and inclusiveness was ranked higher as the gross domestic product of a country increased. Thai and Vietnamese respondents had similar perceptions and, overall, tended to have higher levels of importance than South Korean and Japanese respondents, who also had similar perceptions of importance.

One of the major barriers to climate communication is that climate change is often presented to the public in such a way that impacts seem distant in time. To improve how climate change resonates with people, we propose a simple indicator: how many extreme events (hot days and heavy precipitation days) are grandchildren projected to experience that their grandparents will not experience in their lives? We analyse the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 ensemble. During grandchildren's lifetime (2020–2100) under the shared socioeconomic pathway 5–8.5 (SSP5-8.5), in some tropical regions, they are projected to experience >1000 hot days and >5 heavy precipitation days breaking records set in their grandparents' lifetime until 2040. These numbers of unprecedented hot days and heavy precipitation days under SSP5-8.5 are greater in countries with lower CO₂ emissions and income per capita than in countries with higher CO₂ emissions and income per capita. We show that not only the numbers of unprecedented hot days and heavy precipitation days but also their unevenness across countries can be significantly lowered in the SSP1-2.6 scenario, which is consistent with the 2 °C goal of the Paris Agreement. This new approach would help adults easily understand how their climate change mitigation efforts could decrease the unprecedented extreme events during youths' lifetime and reduce the intergenerational and intragenerational inequalities regarding extreme events., 孫は祖父母が遭遇しないような暑い日と大雨を何度経験するのか? --極端な気象現象の変化に関する世代間不公平性とその地域間不公平性の評価--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-06-14.

The economic knock-on effect of climate change is often underrepresented. When Japan's Ministry of the Environment first started to appreciate that climate change related events at home and abroad were going to threaten supply chains, the Japanese economy and foreign relations, they set out to assemble a team who could research and report on the problem. Dr Yasuko Kameyama, Director, Center for Social and Environmental Systems Research at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) is leading a project team that has developed a collaborative research programme addressing themes and sub-topics that consists compound risks of climate change.

As perception of climate change as a threat to humanity and to ecosystems grows, the rapidly growing literature increasingly refers to the notion of “climate change and security,” for which there is as yet no single agreed definition. Despite the extent of literature already published, there are at least three remaining gaps: (1) Added theoretical value: How does “climate change and security” differ from similar notions such as “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What theoretical gains can be made by securing against climate change? (2) Role of non-state actors: The traditional concept of security is tightly bound to the notion of national security, but the climate change and security discourse opens the door to the participation of non-state actors such as the business sector, local government, and citizens. How do they take part in ensuring security? (3) Regional imbalance: Most of the literature on climate change and security published so far comes from Europe and North America. As other regions, such as Asia, are just as affected, more voices should be heard from those regions. This issue aims to address some of these gaps. The nine articles in this issue address the notion of “climate change and security” through empirical work while theoretically contributing to several themes relating to the climate change and security discourse.

Quality of life (QOL), although a complex and amorphous concept, is a term that warrants attention, especially in discussions on issues that touch on the impacts of climate change and variability. Based on the principles of RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Synthesis, we present a systematic review aimed at gaining insights into the conceptualization and methodological construct of previous studies regarding QOL and QOL-related indexes. We find that (i) QOL assessments vary in terms of conceptual foundations, dimensions, indicators, and units of analysis, (ii) social indicators are consistently used across assessments, (iii) most assessments consider indicators that pertain to the livability of the environment, and (iv) QOL can be based on objective indicators and/or subjective well-being, and on a composite index or unaggregated dimensions and indicators. However, we also find that QOL assessments remain poorly connected with climate-related issues, an important research gap. Our proposed “QOL-Climate” assessment framework, designed to capture the social-ecological impacts of climate change and variability, can potentially help fill this gap. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1090-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

One of the main challenges of modern times is making the energy sector increase its uptake in renewable energy, and determining the role that fossil fuel companies can play in helping or hindering this process. The present study analyses the business strategy of PTT, a state-owned Oil and Gas company in Thailand, and two of its associates, Thai Oil Group and Bangchak Petroleum, to 1) examine renewable energy investment in the past 15 years and 2) shed light on discourses that the companies have used to legitimize their new businesses. For this purpose annual reports from the company websites were analysed, which highlighted how biofuels were the main priority for investment for all three companies since the early 2000s, whereas Solar PV was also recently targeted by PTT and Bangchak Petroleum. The discourses formed to legitimize their investment varied according to energy source and company. Discourses on complying with government policy, enhancing national energy security, and increasing the uptake in environmental friendly energy were found repeatedly in the annual reports of all three companies. Finally, the study provides policy recommendations on how Thai authorities can take a proactive role in helping O&G companies’ transition towards a low-carbon energy future.

This study aimed to evaluate climate mitigation policy packages in various countries’ nationally determined contributions by introducing four intermediate policy goals: decarbonizing energy, improv...

Finance has become a crucial agenda in climate change negotiations in recent years. Meanwhile, multilateral negotiations on climate change as a whole are making meager progress, and increasingly observed are activities by national governments and transnational non-state actors. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how investment towards low-carbon development could be materialized in Asia. A thorough review of current financial assistance for developing countries in Asia was conducted, and the amount of funding proved to be relatively modest to achieve the aim. We then examined financial policy instruments that could be implemented in the region. We estimated that USD125–149 billion per year would be needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region by 2035. We also estimated that more than a half of this amount of funding could be achieved by public sector if several key policy instruments were agreed upon and enacted at regional and national levels in Asia. The role of private sector investment was also found to be indispensable in fulfilling all the long-term investment needs related to climate mitigation in the region.

Understanding the upstream oil and gas (O&G) industry's responses to climate change and what factors can be influential to trigger their mitigation strategies is crucial for policy-makers to harness the huge resources that this industry can mobilize towards environmental protection. Considering that individual climate change efforts are unlikely to affect global mitigation paths, the study investigates the possibility that sectoral approaches can help in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, using Thailand as a case study. It conducted online questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews to acquire primary data from companies and key informants from the government, NGOs, NPOs and academics. The results suggested that, among three possible groups of factors that could affect company decisions on whether to promote sectoral approaches, domestic politics (particularly the Thai government) is the most important, though other factors also play important and interrelated roles. The most welcomed type of scheme that could be envisaged would appear to be a sectoral agreement between government and industry. Finally, the authors provide two main policy recommendations, namely the establishment of an industrial association of O&G companies and for it to target how to start looking at measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions amongst large companies in the sector.

Power plants are one of key energy sources for industrial symbiosis complexes. However, decarbonization of the power sector, including decommissioning of existing fossil-fuel power plants, aggregation of power plant sites, and capacity augmentation of carbon-free power plants, is necessary to achieve low-carbon societies in the long term. Decarbonization results in declining advantage for industrial symbiosis complexes that rely on fossil-fuel power plants. To establish sustainable industrial symbiosis complexes, we used a quantitative model to analyze optimal locations and scales for power plants in Japan considering CO2 emissions reduction targets and several demand scenarios. Our results showed that even with a target of 80% CO2 emission reduction, almost half of Japan's electricity generation could come from fossil-fuel power plants in 2050 if CCS technology were deployed widely. Fossil-fuel power plants would be developed mainly in the regions of high electricity demand and little wind power potential, such as Tokyo, Chubu, and Kansai. From an intra-regional perspective, fossil-fuel power plants could be constructed in areas of high electricity demand. In addition, except for the above areas, generation from fossil-fuel power plants would vary in accordance with the availability of renewables and electricity demand. Our results indicate that future climate policy, regional electricity demand, and availability of regional renewables should be considered when planning the development of industrial symbiosis complexes.

The present study examines role of oil and gas (O&G) industry in Thailand towards the transition to a low-carbon future or, in other words, the diversification of the energy mix to be less dependent on fossil fuels and increase the penetration of renewable and alternative energy. It proposes that although government policy is important to drive changes in the energy mix, the O&G industry, an established energy supplier, could arguably be a key player for sustainable energy development. After reviewing the energy policy of Thailand, and in particular the climate change mitigation and renewable and alternative energy development policy, the study distributed an online questionnaire survey and conducted interviews with six O&G companies in Thailand to gain first-hand data on their corporate response to climate change and low-carbon energy sources. Findings revealed proactive responses in climate change mitigation with various activities undertaken signifying a range of degree of commitment among the various companies. Finally, the authors outlined policy recommendations based on an analysis of incentives and rationales for companies to take part in low-carbon energy development in Thailand.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change envisions that all countries will follow the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ in terms of their responsibility to protect the earth’s climate system. However, its concrete application has always been controversial. The Kyoto Protocol framed this allocation issue in terms of quantified emission reduction and limitation objectives (QERLOs) in its Annex B, but this also triggered the refusal of the United States to ratify the Protocol. This article identifies some of the problems associated with allocation, and its problems inter-linked with governance architecture, by examining the case of the allocation of reduction commitments for greenhouse gas emissions in the context of climate governance beyond 2012. Three broad criteria are used in the discussion, namely, responsibility, capability, and efficiency. Target numbers for individual countries differ with the criteria used, but they also differ even within the same criteria category, due to different ways these conceptual criteria are translated into quantitative calculation formulas. Sometimes this makes a large difference for individual targets. Our calculations using different criteria and formula to come up with medium-term targets for selected developed countries show that differences in results are caused by the choice of allocation principle, differences in allocation formula under a given allocation principle, and different calculation criteria used under a given allocation formula. Assumptions in modeling and the choice of data also affect results. Importantly, interests are often embedded explicitly or implicitly behind these different ideas. Although allocation and architecture seems to be different problems of governance at first glance, there is also a link between limited data availability for allocation calculations and the form of governance architecture proposed. This is an area where further scientific research is required.

In order to deal effectively with any type of environmental problem, it seems quite obvious that concrete targets must be set for activities that are to be implemented pursuant to the goals. The aim of this study was to investigate Article 2 of the UNFCCC on the “ultimate objective” and to clarify the specific role attributed to it. By comparing the objective article with those of other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), it became clear that articles on objectives in MEAs can only be found in those agreed upon during or after 1991 and that the role of the articles differ from each other depending on the negotiating process and circumstance of each agreement. The UNFCCC is unique among agreements that have similar articles containing objectives. This uniqueness proved to be a result of the negotiation process during 1991 and 1992, where some countries proposed the insertion of long-term targets by individual countries in the article. Article 2 of the UNFCCC has not been very effective in the past in inducing governments to negotiate ambitious emission reduction targets, not merely by insufficiency of scientific knowledge related to a concrete level of the ultimate objective, but also because of the nature of the article that was matured during the negotiating process by adding the word “ultimate” before “objective”. With increasingly robust scientific evidence and findings on climate change, however, the article has been rapidly gaining attention. It is suggested that the objectives contained in MEAs have the potential to be utilized as a necessary condition for the determination of short- to mid-term commitments for each country.

How do current processes in international climate-related institutions affect the architecture of a future climate regime, particularly various international negotiating processes related to climate change? A plausible image of future climate regime is developed to address this question. Three plausible scenarios are described for the next decade using the scenario-planning approach. Based on this, the scope for an internationally acceptable climate regime beyond 2012 is developed. The current processes under the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and those outside the UN arena are encapsulated into three scenarios. Each scenario has a set of relatively preferable types of commitments, which differ from each other. Each process is likely to result in the establishment of one particular institution. Linkages are developed between the three institutions so that the climate regime as a whole will be environmentally effective. The three institutions are likely to converge in the long run, as countries' views on both...

This paper compares and clarifies differences revealed in proposals from different regions on a future multilateral climate regime, after the year 2012. More than 100 articles in English were collected, categorized according to the lead author’s region, and then reviewed to identify the general tendencies of each region. Proposals on emission allocation rules were the most popular in Europe, while rules related to international emissions trading dominated proposals from the United States. Few articles came from other Annex I countries, but these generally provided only the most basic aspects of a future regime. Meanwhile, concerns for equity and the relevance of any new regime in terms of sustainable development were clear in proposals from non-Annex I countries. Differences among regions were considered to be a reflection of current circumstances in each author’s region. The capacity and culture of authors in some regions were considered to be other possible factors in differences. The paper concludes that recognition of regional background that formulate respective preferences and concerns regarding a future climate regime will be important to help reach a multilateral agreement in future official negotiations.

Our propensity to emit damaging gases has created a dangerously hot earth and it is imperative that we reduce our emission of carbon dioxide. In this article, Yasuko Kameyama, senior researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, examines the international negotiations that have taken place on global warming from 1990 to 2001, focussing on the events leading up to the 1997 Kyoto Conference. In 2001, the US created a furor when it chose to opt-out of the Kyoto Protocol. Despite this set back, Kameyama suggests that this may present Japan with the opportunity to break free from its past mediator role between the US and the EU, and take the lead on environmental matters.

The impacts of increasing natural climate disasters are threatening food security in the Asia-Pacific region. Rice is Asia’s most important staple food. Climate variability and change directly impact rice production, through changes in rainfall, temperature and CO2 concentrations. The key for sustainable rice crop is water management. Adaptation can occur through shifts of cropping to higher latitudes and can profit from river systems (via irrigation) so far not considered. New opportunities arise to produce more than one crop per year in cooler areas. Asian wheat production in 2005 represents about 43 % of the global total. Changes in agronomic practices, such as earlier plant dates and cultivar substitution will be required. Fisheries play a crucial role in providing food security with the contribution of fish to dietary animal protein being very high in the region – up to 90 % in small island developing states (SIDS). With the warming of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and increased acidification, marine ecosystems are presently under stress. Despite these trends, maintaining or enhancing food production from the sea is critical. However, future sustainability must be maintained whilst also securing biodiversity conservation. Improved fisheries management to address the existing non-climate threats remains paramount in the Indian and Pacific Oceans with sustainable management regimes being established. Climate-related impacts are expected to increase in magnitude over the coming decades, thus preliminary adaptation to climate change is valuable.

Projected change in climate in the coming decades adds a layer of complexity in the search for sustainability. Warming temperatures, rising sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and their impacts on natural and human systems could threaten the attainment of development goals. Many countries in Asia and the Pacific are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and there is growing recognition that climate change adaptation must be tackled as an integral part of the development process, for example in mainstreaming climate change adaptation into national plans and programmes. The aim of Chap. 6 is to explore linkages between sustainable development and efforts to address climate change in Asia and the Pacific, particularly focussing in two areas of low carbon development (LCD) pathways for the region, and the importance of natural ecosystems in sustaining the delivery of ecosystem services that are essential for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The challenges posed by climate change will be felt in the coming decades in Asia and the Pacific. In parallel, nations in the region will continue to aspire for sustainable development. Policy makers and development workers must find ways to ensure that both these concerns are addressed synergistically while avoiding negative outcomes. One way to mitigate climate change while pursuing sustainable development is through LCD, which will require negotiations across many stakeholders of governments, non-government agencies, industry and broader communities. In Asia and the Pacific natural ecosystems will continue to play a critical role in addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation. Nations in the region will have to find innovative ways to manage and rehabilitate natural ecosystems for a multiplicity of functions and services. This will involve greater collaboration and communication between scientists and policy makers as well as between natural and social scientists. In many developing countries, there is still very limited empirical information and research needs to be ramped up. North-South and South-South partnerships could help fill the gap.

Unlike in the Kyoto Protocol, emission reduction targets for individual countries in the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ contain a list of pledges without international negotiation. As a result, whether or not international negotiations on QERLOs (Quantified emission reduction and limitation objectives) can actually be adopted in a post-2012 climate change governance architecture remains uncertain. However, after the COP15 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, it is clear that several countries are concerned about a situation where only they would have to take on the ‘extra burden’ of reducing GHG emissions, implying additional costs compared with their economic competitors. The business and industrial sectors are particularly concerned about an agreement with unbalanced QERLOs between and among developed countries and emerging economies. Thus, many pledges on emission reduction targets under the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ were made under the condition that they are only bound to their commitment if others adopt comparable (or equal) emission reduction obligations.

Over the past two thousand years, Sino-Japanese relationships have not always been stable, and especially in the aftermath of the Second World War the political atmosphere of the Northeast Asian region has been chilly. Relations started to improve only in the past three decades following the resumption of diplomatic relations in 1972. The pace has been slow, however.

aepr_1152 108..109 As has been indicated in the title of Schreurs' (2010) paper, "multi-level governance" has become a popular notion to express the current status of climate change policy. Climate governance is observed across all levels, starting from multilateral, regional, national, and down to sub-national levels. One of the major reasons behind such comprehensiveness could be due to the problem's unique characteristics. Many other environmental prob- lems, such as local air pollution and ozone depletion, are caused by pollutants that are emitted from a limited number of point sources. For other types of environmental issues such as the loss of species or of resources, it is crucial to deal with people who are legally or illegally directly involved in the depletion. In either case, policies are directed at those who have stakes in the problem, and the number of the stakeholders could be quite small. On the other hand, climate change involves almost all the people and all types of indus- tries around the globe. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted while people light up and heat their houses and drive their cars. Emissions also come from deforestation and other land-use changes. Each individual could be designated as a "stake- holder of climate change." The climate change problem requires a global solution because it involves everybody around the globe. The involvement of all nations is a strength of the United Nations (UN) system. Agreements achieved under the UN arena affect all nations simultaneously. It is also one of the most reliable and authoritative places to discuss global issues. Nevertheless, the weakness of involving all national governments is that agreements are likely to be the least common denominator of countries' positions. Assuming that countries' positions are more or less the least common denominator of the assertions of stakeholders at domestic levels, the consequence could be international agreements that are far from solving the problem. A variety of channels are established to complement the limitations of the UN system. Even at the multilateral level, non-UN processes such as the G8 and Major Economies Forum (initially the Major Economies Meeting led by the US government), have been taking important roles in facilitating dialogue among high-level politicians and govern- ment officials over the past few years. Furthermore, numerous cooperative agreements are concluded on a bilateral basis. Actions to combat climate change are observed at the local level, not only in East Asia, but also in many other countries. In those countries, it is actually movements of local

We surveyed sustainable development indicators (SDIs) adopted by 28 national governments, regions, and international organisations and compiled them into a database. The aims of this study were to understand the elements of sustainable development (SD), examine SDIs developed in certain fields and countries, and determine future tasks to improve SDI development. A total of 1,790 indicators were surveyed and classified into 77 subcategories in four categories. Most of the indicators measured various SD elements, and the indicators reflected each country's developmental stage and specific concerns. Several advanced or unique indicators were also identified. Five major tasks in the future development of SDIs were identified: 1) creating time-conscious indicators; 2) measuring interactions between elements of a system; 3) dealing with transboundary issues in a national SDI system; 4) measuring SD quality (including subjective elements); 5) including ordinary citizens by showing the relationships between SDI and everyday life.

These proceedings pertain to the JSPS-ICSSR seminar entitled ‘Understanding and Addressing Systemic Risks Behind the Socio-economic Impacts of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Japan and India: Developing a Roadmap for a Resilient and Sustainable Future’. Led by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati (IIT-T) in collaboration with various Indian and Japanese research institutions, the seminar discussed an overview of the systemic risks of COVID-19 in Japan and India, and the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic economy in these countries. The seminar also discussed an overview of the role of governments and institutions in addressing systemic risks. The seminar delved into the nature of systemic risks, and how to manage and mitigate them in the future based on the experiences discussed in the seminar. These proceedings provide insights into the discussions and messages that came out of the seminar.