JCP Ichida on G8 Summit

   At a press conference on June 11, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi commented on global warming prevention measures discussed at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

   Referring to the Summit statement confirming that the U.S. and other major greenhouse gas emitting countries would negotiate within the U.N. framework with a view to reaching agreement by 2009 on cutting greenhouse gases for 2013 onward in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework, Ichida said, “It is a step forward.”

   That said, Ichida pointed out that due to the U.S. rejection of setting numerical targets, the Summit leaders only agreed to “seriously consider” halving global emissions by 2050 without setting a benchmark year for this goal.

   The JCP representative also pointed out that the “Cool Earth 50” strategy announced by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo proposed a halving of global emissions by 2050 from the “current level,” which has already greatly surpassed the level in 1990, the benchmark year set by the Kyoto Protocol. Criticizing the strategy for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol’s framework of imposing different targets on emissions reduction for each member state by stating that “the framework must be flexible and diverse,” Ichida stated, “Mr. Abe’s proposal clearly reflects the demands of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that emissions reduction be achieved by ‘voluntary efforts’.”

   Ichida pointed out that despite Prime Minister Abe’s call for efforts of individuals and households to reduce emissions, priorities should be given to the industrial and public sectors that cause 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Japan. He criticized the government for leaving emissions reduction programs in the industrial sector to Keidanren’s ‘Voluntary Action Plan’ that does not hold corporations responsible for the failure to achieve their reduction targets. Ichida stressed that any government policy will fail to solve the problem unless the government takes measures, such as industry-government agreements in European countries, to require industrial sectors to fulfill their responsibilities.

                            - Akahata, June 12, 2007