23 September 2009

New Peer-Reviewed Paper on Japan's Climate Policy

You can find a pre-publication version of my new paper on Japan's climate policy here in PDF which is soon to appear in Environmental Research Letters. My recent analysis of the UK Climate Change Act can be found here. And stay tuned for a similar analysis of Australia's proposed ETS, which I'll post up very soon.

Here is the abstract of the Japan analysis:
This paper evaluates Japan’s so-called “Mamizu” climate policies proposed in mid-2009 in terms of the implied rates of decarbonization of the Japanese economy for short-term and long-term targets. The paper uses the Kaya Identity to structure the evaluation, employing both a bottom-up approach (based on projections of future Japanese population, economic growth, and technology) as well as a top-down approach (deriving implied rates of decarbonization consistent with the targets and various rates of economic growth). Both approaches indicate that the Japanese economy would have to achieve rates of decarbonization of 2.6% to meet a 2020 target of reducing emissions by 15% below 2005 levels, and 5.0% to meet a 2050 target of an 80% reduction below 2005 levels. A target of 25% below 1990 emissions proposed by the opposition party (which subsequently formed a government following elections in August 2009) implies a rate of decarbonization of 4.6% annually to 2020. The paper argues that international criticism of Japanese Mamizu climate policy proposals as being too weak was unfounded, and if anything, the proposals may have been too ambitious. In either case, climate policy would be strengthened through the support of a diversity of approaches to decarbonization.
Pielke, Jr., R.A., 2009 (accepted). Mamizu Climate Policy: An Evaluation of Japanese Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets, Environmental Research Letters (PDF).