Japan’s Carbon Footprint & Future Energy Sources

It is now widely accepted that a core part of combating the problem of global climate change is for nations to introduce policies and regulatory measures aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. Carbon emission trading schemes (ETS), policies that facilitate the replacement of fossil fuels with ‘new’ energy (renewable energy) and use of clean technologies are at the cornerstone of action towards combating climate change.
While the focus of this article is on Japan’s carbon emission targets and its current and future energy plans given the recent unprecedented passing of highly controversial legislation aimed at imposing an economy-wide tax on carbon pollution by the Australian government, it is timely to take a brief overview of the related carbon tax in Australia, which is expected to be closely observed by other countries as they contemplate their own respective carbon emission schemes and use of energy into the future. The topic is particularly relevant considering that in May of this year the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that energy-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions for 2010 were the highest in history.

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