On Sept. 7 — shortly before taking over the premiership — Yukio Hatoyama met strong resistance from business circles and from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry when he said at the Asahi Global Environment Forum (sponsored by Asahi Shimbun) that his government would aim for a 25 percent reduction in Japan’s greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.
Critics of the announcement of this target insisted that it would weaken the international competitive power of Japanese industries, impose heavy burdens on people’s livelihoods and slow down the nation’s economic growth. To those who have specialized in econometrics like myself, it is obvious that these claims have been manipulated by using econometric models.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.