The latest Environment Ministry report on estimated damage from global warming reminds us of the urgency of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions — efforts that do not appear to be high on the Abe administration's policy agenda.
Last year, Japan came under severe international criticism for its new greenhouse gas emissions target — which aims for a 3.8 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2020 but allows for a 3.1 percent increase from 1990 levels. The government said the figures were the best it could offer as long as the prospect of restarting Japan's idled nuclear power plants remained unclear. But this excuse only illustrates the lack of fresh initiatives by the Abe administration to reduce the nation's emissions of heat-trapping gases.
The report put together by the ministry's research team paints a gloomy picture of heavy damage from global warming on Japan's ecosystem and people's lives. Based on projections from recent computer-aided simulations of climate change, the report says a rise in average annual temperature of between 3.5 and 6.4 degrees by the end of the 21st century, compared with 100 years earlier, would raise the sea level by about 60 cm, resulting in the loss of 85 percent of sand beaches across the country.