ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability featured a Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) report last month regarding ‘demand-pull’ measures channeling renewable natural energy from five prefectures in northern Japan to Tokyo.
Having set a target of reducing Tokyo’s greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020, in
April 2010 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government began mandatory emission reductions and an emission trading scheme for large business facilities in the city. By recognizing environmental credits for renewable energy, this scheme acts as an incentive for expansion of renewable energy supply throughout Japan, building links to regions with rich natural environments in order to increase renewable energy usage in Tokyo.
With the five prefectures, Akita, Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Yamagata, all rich in natural sources of energy, it could help Tokyo solve the problem of how to provide energy in a city with so little free space. Tokyo currently has a shortage of locations for installing renewable energy sources which means these new ‘demand-pull’ measures could be very useful indeed.
To read the report by Shoji Kobayashi on ICLEI’s homepage, click here.
