NGOs launch campaign for climate law/Make the Rule urges government action on tackling rising greenhouse gas emissions
Written by Writer on Friday, October 17th, 2008
NGOs launch campaign for climate law/Make the Rule urges government action on tackling rising greenhouse gas emissions
Kiyomi Arai/Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
KYOTO–Kiko Network, a Kyoto-based nongovernmental organization, and other NGOs have launched a campaign to promote legislation to reduce the impact of global warming. “Eco-friendly devices seem to have taken root in our lives, and people have started bringing their own bags when going grocery shopping and chopsticks when eating bentos. But despite such efforts, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Japan has been growing,” said Mie Asaoka, lawyer and head of Kiko Network. “That’s one important reason for us to take stronger action to change the scheme.”
The Make the Rule campaign was launched in August by an organizing committee comprising Kiko Network and about 30 other organizations from across the country. The primary purpose of the campaign is to encourage regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Modeled after a successful case in Britain in which citizens played a major role in prompting the government to take action, the campaign aims to achieve two major goals. One is to set a mid-term target for greenhouse gas emissions in Japan–a reduction of 30 percent in 2020 from the 1990 levels. The other is to create a framework to economically reward those who reduce the emission of carbon dioxide.
The committee is collecting signatures to be submitted to the Diet to lobby lawmakers, hopefully to influence the government’s policymaking process before the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) takes place in Copenhagen in December 2009.
To be discussed at the conference is a framework for after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, which sets greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for signatory countries between 2008 and 2012.
In April, Kiko Network proposed a new law, tentatively called the Climate Protection Law, demanding that the government achieve the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from the 1990 levels by 2012, as stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol, and set up mid- and long-term goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, along with other issues. It then asked other NGOs to participate in pressing the government to create the legislation, leading to the launch of the Make the Rule campaign.
Asaoka says many people in Japan misguidedly believe the nation is setting the pace in tackling global warming. “It’s true that Japan is very advanced in certain environmental technologies, such as the development of energy-saving home appliances. But that’s only one aspect,” she said. “Many people seem satisfied with doing some ‘eco-friendly things,’ like carrying bags to supermarkets, and think Japan is No. 1 in environmental awareness.
“But if that’s the case, why are greenhouse gas emissions increasing in this country?”
According to Environment Ministry statistics, emissions of six greenhouse gases–CO2, methane, dinitrogen monoxide, hydrofluorocarbon, perfluorocarbon and sulfur hexafluoride–were 1.34 billion tons in fiscal 2006, up 6.2 percent from 1990 levels. The figure has hovered around 5 percent to 10 percent more than the 1990 levels since 1999.
The current draft of the Climate Protection Law stipulates that besides setting the mid- and long-term goals for the reduction and achieving the Kyoto Protocol target, several economic measures are necessary, such as emissions trading, CO2 tax, and a buyback program for renewable energies. It also states that firms of a certain size should be required to disclose information on their greenhouse gas emissions.
The draft also demands that Japan make a larger contribution to international efforts to tackle global warming and to help developing countries adapt.
Another major organizer of the campaign is Tokyo-based Friends of the Earth (FoE) Japan. The NGO has played a major role in drawing up the campaign strategy, which is modeled after a case in Britain in which an NGO-led campaign prompted the government to create legislation on climate change.
The Big Ask campaign, launched in Britain in 2005 by FoE, demanded that lawmakers create a bill imposing stronger regulations to address climate change. FoE collected signatures from the public to get the lawmakers to take action, while Thom Yorke of rock group Radiohead supported the campaign and acted as its spokesman.
Persuaded by the campaign, the British government announced the draft of the Climate Change Bill in March last year.
The bill, which obliges the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent from the 1990 levels by 2050, and to establish a carbon budget system in which the limit is set every five years for the country on CO2 emissions, is currently under discussion.
Ryoko Seguchi, who is in charge of climate change policy at FoE Japan, says the success of The Big Ask owes much to the fact that citizens lobbied their local Parliament members.
“Japan hasn’t done what it should do, and the emissions are increasing. We’ve learned that things don’t change if only a handful of NGOs lobby politicians. We need to take a new approach,” Seguchi said.
FoE Japan collected signatures in early October in Osaka, Saitama and Tokyo, at Radiohead concert venues.
According to the organizing committee, about 20,000 signatures had been collected as of mid-October.
“It’s crucial to involve the younger generation–those who haven’t really been active in environmental issues–in the campaign,” says Kenro Taura, executive director of Kiko Network. The organizing committee has created campaign goods such as T-shirts and decorative paper inserts for thermal cups, hoping to attract young people.
Asaoka of Kiko Network also says that NGOs getting together and campaigning to involve people outside the groups, a relatively new approach adopted in the campaign, is an important step for Japanese NGOs.
The Kyoto NGO was a major player in the COP3 in 1997, where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. Although the government has since started listening to what NGOs have to say, it is still not enough, she said.
“[Kiko Network] can sometimes stop bad policies before they’re put into effect, but we’re not powerful enough to get the government to create a good new policy,” Asaoka said. “To influence politics, it’s important that we gain broader public support and create what can be called ‘a civil sector.’ That’s the ultimate goal in this campaign.”
To join the Make the Rule campaign, send messages online (www.maketherule.jp/ by computer and www.maketherule.jp/m/ by cell phone) or send signatures to be submitted to the Diet, using the form that can be downloaded from the campaign Web site. - (Oct. 16, 2008)
