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On the evening of February 21, the Global Warming Countermeasures Headquarters
(Chair: DPJ Vice President Katsuya Okada), met at party headquarters
with officials from Nippon Keidanran (Japan Business Federation) and the
Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC) to hear their
presentations and exchanged opinions on measures to combat global warming
and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
At the start of the meeting, Acting President Kan Naoto (Countermeasures
Headquarters Adviser) said that "we set up a Strategy Headquarters on this
issue in the belief that it is a major threat on a par with nuclear weapons
and terrorism. We hope this will be a meaningful meeting and would like to
hear your frank opinions."
Nippon Keidanren told the strategy headquarters that they had established
the Global Environmental Charter in 1991 to reflect the importance of
achieving both environmental preservation and economic growth. They also
explained the desire to spread Japanese energy-conserving and low-carbon
technology to other countries in the belief that all nations should
participate in anti-global warming efforts. Nippon Keidanren presented with
concrete examples of measures to combat global warming in the steel-making
industry.
The FEPC reported on demand-side initiatives to improve efficiency and
release less carbon dioxide, such as energy-efficient water heaters and
electric vehicles, in addition to technological developments on the supply-side.
Participating DPJ members agreed on the importance of having all countries
participate in measures to combat global warming and thanked both
organizations for their informative and concise presentations. Some members
called for precautions to ensure that emissions trading is not used the
speculative purposes while other members said they would also like to see
information on international coordination in the fight against global
warming in industries other than the steel industry.
Nippon Keidanren agreed that speculative emissions trading risked
preventing carbon dioxide emissions reductions.
(08/02/21)
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