In the past few decades (and especially since the late 1980s), Japan has significantly improved energy conservation and environmental protection. Since that time, Japan has become a world leader in the development and implementation of pollution control technologies and energy efficiency innovations. However, owing to its large economy, Japan remains one of the primary emitters of carbon dioxide in the world, emitting about 1.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2004, or nearly 5 percent of the global total. Nevertheless, Japan has a relatively low carbon intensity level and has one of the lowest energy intensity levels among the advanced OECD economies.

Japan has been a strong supporter of efforts to combat global warming and played host to the conference that led to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was finalized in December 1997. Under the Kyoto agreement, which took effect in February 2005, Japan has set out to reduce its carbon dioxide output to 6 percent lower than its 1990 emissions levels. However, despite these proposals and strong public support for the ideals set out in the Kyoto Protocol, Japan’s carbon emissions have been on the rise in recent years. Furthermore, in 2004, the country’s total carbon dioxide emissions were 24 percent higher than its 1990 levels.

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