The government will oblige some companies, particularly those in high-emitting industries including steelmaking, to participate in an emissions trading system to be introduced in fiscal 2026.
Japan adopts bill obliging firms' participation in emissions trading
Companies that emit at least 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year will be required to participate in the country's carbon emissions trading system.
Asian seabass are bred at the Songkhla Coastal Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Research and Development Center in southern Thailand.
Japan looks to save seafood and seaweed farming from warming oceans
Projects at home and in Thailand are seeking to address challenges stemming from climate change as well as sustainability concerns.
The Chip Mong Insee cement factory in Kampot province, Cambodia, on Jan. 9. An investigation has shown that the plastic credits sector relies heavily on the polluting cement industry to burn collected waste, despite concerns about health risks and carbon emissions.
'What would you have us do?': The plastic credits problem
Credits place no obligations on buyers to stop producing or using unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the environment.
Laborers at a shipyard on the outskirts of Dhaka. Worker deaths, injuries and exposure to hazardous substances are common in the ship-breaking industry, as is environmental harm with toxic chemicals seeping into the beach and water, harming marine life.
Shipyards of Bangladesh brace as heavy emitting ships near end of life
Worker deaths and environmental harm are common in yards where vessels that have supplied richer nations are dismantled for scraps that can be used in manufacturing.
All Nippon Airways aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August 2024. ANA has staked a lot on greener kinds of jet fuel, with 70% of the emissions reductions under its net-zero emissions plan coming from them.
Sky not the only limit for JAL and ANA’s climate goals
The airlines' similar but different carbon neutrality plans highlight the difficulty of decarbonization, especially as the sector is now growing again.
Cows graze in a deforested pasture in Brazil's Amazon located in the municipality of Itapua do Oeste, Rondonia state, Brazil, in 2020.
Brazil's carbon trade takes off, but agribusiness escapes scrutiny
The regulation is still expected to bring legal security and foster carbon projects that protect the Amazon against pressure from the agribusiness sector.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback
Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.