Tokyo Report  |Diplomacy |Environment |East Asia

Does Japan Accept a Global Environmental Strategy?

As the world'southward attention turns increasingly to climate change, Japan is in prime number position to lead.

Does Japan Have a Global Environmental Strategy?

Credit: SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Eye, and ORBIMAGE

Environmentalism and sustainability take come to form a pregnant cornerstone of Japan's global epitome and soft power in recent years. Nihon'due south facilitation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and its staunch advocacy for subsequent climate summits and agreements, today place Tokyo at the forefront of international efforts to combat climate change.

As a society, Nihon's respect for nature and minimalist traditions take filled the general public with images of a singled-out Japanese cultural artful that Tokyo is able to evoke as a national commitment to sustainability. With all eyes on Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Olympics, Japan has fed on this cultural mythos, taking steps to make sustainability a central part of the Games. Japan'southward concern for the environment also reflects its inherent resource poverty and vulnerability to natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and – per contempo devastating news – typhoons.

During his international debut as surround minister at the United nations General Assembly in September, Shinjiro Koizumi – tapped equally a time to come prime government minister – emphasized the commitments of major Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Kyoto, and Yokohama, to eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. Despite media coverage of Koizumi'south remarks focusing on his unusual joint of the international response to climate change, Koizumi's spoken communication underscored the concrete ways that Tokyo is moving the needle on issues of sustainability.

However, though Japan's signature foreign policy initiatives ofttimes insinuate to sustainability, they fall short of singling out the environment – especially, climate change – as a primary surface area of concern. Official Japanese documents describing Tokyo's vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) emphasize the importance of rules and norms protecting "international public appurtenances" and maintaining "economic prosperity" and "peace and stability." As a public proficient indispensable to the region'south long-term prosperity and stability, a make clean and prophylactic environment should autumn within the natural confines of this framework. Instead, to date, the FOIP's commitments to freedom of navigation and trade announced to accept taken precedence due to Prc'southward maritime grayness-zone activities and other efforts to encroach on regional sea lanes of communication and commerce.

Similarly, Japan'south 2013 National Security Strategy does non announced to encompass the concept of sustainability as cardinal to foreign policy, instead elaborating on sustainable evolution within a broader give-and-take of "responding to … global problems" and "mainstreaming the concept of human security." Further, the absence of any mention of climate change in five-year National Defence force Program Guidelines released last December suggests that ecology issues have yet to be securitized, or elevated as apparent threats to national security. Setting aside the disputed merits of securitizing the climate debate for the sake of galvanizing club, Japan's tempered treatment of environmental issues in contempo strategy documents is noteworthy despite its otherwise vigorous efforts to promote sustainability.

The assistants of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken measurable steps in the fight against climatic change, releasing in June a "Long-Term Strategy" for meeting Nippon's obligations under the Paris climate accord. During chiffonier deliberations regarding the strategy, Abe emphasized that environmentalism and economic growth were no longer conflicting objectives to exist balanced accordingly; quite the contrary, Japanese investment in sustainable technologies would provide new avenues for long-term growth. Abe also linked Japanese history and values to contemporary attitudes regarding the environment, expressing his hope that future generations would deliver more pronounced leadership.

Japan tin certainly exercise more, particularly on the domestic front. Tokyo has weathered criticism for relying on coal to make full the gap left past nuclear free energy post-Fukushima. Political and bureaucratic hurdles await as the country transitions to a cleaner energy mix. Even so others fault Japan for its issues with plastic waste management. And in the pb-up to the G-20 elevation in Osaka last summertime, where the Usa broke with the world in refusing to commit to the Paris accord (as happened at the two prior G-20s since U.Due south. President Donald Trump's inauguration), a draft communique circulated by the host nation fell brusque of endorsing implementation of the climate agreement – instead reflecting Tokyo's desire to restore a global consensus with Washington. Though the typhoon linguistic communication was ultimately discarded, with the concluding communique reflecting the compromise "G19+one" approach of the 2017 and 2018 G-xx summits, several participating European and Asian countries reportedly expressed frustration with Japan's instincts to accommodate Trump in the context of delicate bilateral merchandise negotiations.

Facing accusations of a weakening stance on environmental problems, Japan will look to accelerate its efforts through multilateral institutions and bilateral cooperation with developing countries across the Indo-Pacific. As Japan and Cathay compete for access to vulnerable markets across Southeast Asia, South asia, and Africa, Tokyo is betting that its bona fides in promoting sustainable and quality development will testify decisive for capturing new investment opportunities while supporting costless and open societies worldwide.

Indeed, despite recent hiccups, Japan deserves high marks for going above and across in helping other countries tackle their environmental challenges. Overseas, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is 1 of Japan'southward chief vehicles for promoting sustainability. Through the ADB – where Japan is a top shareholder and Japanese officials consistently concord leadership positions – Tokyo helped raise most $30 billion in climate financing for innovative technologies and projects supporting green growth between 2011 and 2018. Per the ADB's "Strategy 2030" released in 2018, the banking concern committed an additional $80 billion over 12 years to mitigating climate change and disaster risk across the Asia-Pacific.

Japan has also thrown money at climate alter independent of the ADB. At the 2009 Copenhagen climate meridian, Nippon pledged $15 billion over iii years to developing countries. Between 2013 and 2015, Japan contributed an additional $16 billion to "Actions for a Absurd World." Finally, at the 2015 Paris conference, the Japanese authorities pledged $13 trillion to the developing world, and convened a panel to draft a national "Energy and Environment Innovation Strategy" formalized in 2016.

The government-affiliated Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nihon International Cooperation Bureau (JICA) – well known in the region for their disquisitional, longstanding contributions to economic growth – have been the other primary executors of Tokyo's global push for sustainable development and capacity-building. Since 2010, JBIC has invested hundreds of billions of yen in loftier-tech "GREEN" projects addressing energy inefficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. JICA, meanwhile, contributes significant funding and technical expertise supporting environmental management, renewable energy, water conservation, and disaster reduction.

JICA has also established itself equally a idea leader engaged in collaborative research on environmental issues. Studies like a 2009 joint JICA-ADB-World Bank cess of the impacts of ascent bounding main levels on coastal cities in Asia accept helped steer global policy on climatic change. Japan'due south significant feel building climate-resilient infrastructure and improving disaster preparedness, both at home and through JICA projects in vulnerable areas like Thailand and Sri Lanka, have propelled groundbreaking initiatives like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Hazard Reduction adopted at the Un in 2015.

Nihon has also used ecology issues to foster bilateral cooperation. For example, in 2015, amid political setbacks over historical problems, Nihon, China, and Due south Korea participated in trilateral discussions regarding a five-year environmental action plan tackling climate change, air pollution, and chemical and other hazardous waste exposure. Recognizing that environmental concerns tend to be allowed to diplomatic differences, Tokyo has also used the climate upshot-basket to strengthen cooperation with other similar-minded governments, including the ASEAN member-nations, India, and the EU.

In 2007, Nihon launched a recurring Nippon-ASEAN Dialogue on Environmental Cooperation, which paved the way for subsequent climate-focused bilateral mechanisms with Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Japan has also spearheaded issue-specific summitry in Asia, including fora aimed at managing urban evolution, promoting sustainable transportation, controlling acid rainfall, and even preserving migratory waterbird flyways in the Pacific and Indian oceans. ASEAN's "Outlook on the Indo-Pacific" report in June identifies the Un Sustainable Evolution Goals (SDGs) as a "priority area of cooperation," underscoring the paramount focus Southeast Asia assigns to its environment-related alignment with Japan.

With New Delhi, i of Tokyo'due south most important long-term partners after the United states of america, Japan is supporting a nationwide push to modernize Republic of india's infrastructure and rural economic system. To appointment, Japanese investment has concentrated on India's transportation, energy, and water grids, which foreign companies say pose basic environmental barriers to conducting business organization in India. Internationally, Japan and Bharat are likewise partners on an ambitious trans-regional connectivity project called the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. First proposed in 2016 only yet in its infancy, this bilateral initiative would combine India's access to labor with Japan's strengths in financing and technical know-how to execute on a key Japanese priority of the FOIP – namely, bolstering Japanese economic ties to Africa. Communist china contests Japan's interest in Africa's future, then much so that Tokyo was concerned Beijing might pressure African leaders into canceling their omnipresence at the seventh Tokyo International Briefing on African Development (TICAD) in August.

Expanding cooperation with the European union – function of Tokyo's broad outreach to preserve a rules-based international social club – promises to grade a third colonnade of the sustainability architecture crystallizing around Japan. In September, Prime Minister Abe was in Brussels to sign a bilateral quality infrastructure pact with the European union. The text of the new agreement, central to the European union'due south efforts to counter Chinese Chugalug and Road Initiative (BRI) activity blocking European companies in Asia, stresses the importance of promoting environmentally sustainable development – a thinly-veiled swipe at BRI'southward mixed environmental record.

As the world's attention turns increasingly to climatic change, Japan should avoid bending to external pressures to soften its stance on the environment, every bit Paris accord supporters accused Tokyo of assuasive ahead of the Osaka G-20. Rather, Nippon can leverage its substantial resources and authority to burnish an already conspicuous record of global advocacy for sustainable development and human security. Particularly as the Trump administration takes a back seat on climate initiatives, Japanese leaders can use their access to Washington and credibility with the American public to serve every bit a bridge on environmental problems with policy and business influencers across the Us.

Across this, Nippon could besides utilise its stature to leave a lasting imprint on the global soapbox regarding climate alter, embedding its ain unique cultural ethos and developmental perspective within a more cohesive and clearly articulated vision for how society can coexist with the environment. As Tokyo sketches a global strategy for promoting environmentalism and sustainability, hereafter leaders, like Abe's newest environment government minister, should search for new ways of continuing to lead by example and experience at dwelling house and overseas.

Elliot Silverberg is a swain with Georgetown University's Plant for the Study of Diplomacy. Elizabeth Smith is a localization consultant and freelance researcher based in Tokyo.