JCP Ichida criticizes government goal for emissions cuts as halfhearted

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP Ichida criticizes government goal for emissions cuts as halfhearted

On NHK's "Sunday Debate" program aired on June 21, representatives of political parties including the Japanese Communist Party discussed the government's mid-term goal of a 15 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions in Japan from the 2005 levels by 2020.

In the debate, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi criticized the government for clinging to its halfhearted goal for emissions cuts on the grounds that a higher emissions cut goal will force the public to pay more. Prime Minister Aso Taro in the June 10 announcement regarding the mid-term goal said that the government estimates that in order to achieve a 15 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions, people's financial burden will increase (every year) through a 43,000 yen decrease in annual disposable income and a 33,000 yen increase in annual electricity and heating expenditures.

Pointing out that in its mid-term goal the government does not require the business sector, which is responsible for 80 percent of Japan's total greenhouse gas emissions, to shoulder any burden, Ichida said that the government has set this goal to represent the interests of the business sector.

Regarding the future of measures to stop global warming, Ichida emphasized, "In order to make use of every citizen's efforts, the government should change the present socio-economic system promoting mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal, and turn to the use of renewable energy."

Citing Germany as an example of a country that is promoting solar energy and thereby increasing job opportunity, Ichida stressed, "Changing the economic structure to one of increasing the use of renewable energy instead of continuing to depend on fossil energy will pave the way for sustainably developing the economy."

Criticizing the government for intending to build more nuclear power plants as an effort to combat global warming, Ichida said, "If serious accident occurs, it will be catastrophic. The Japanese government should stop promoting nuclear power."

- Akahata, June 22, 2009