Tokyo - the new California?


Treehugger, a green website that has rapidly grown into a major portal for environmental blogging and opinion exchange, notes that Tokyo is the New California:

Tokyo's mayor has seen the (green) light and is taking major steps to introduce a climate change programme for the city despite Japan's reticence nationally on the matter. Mayor Shintaro Ishihara is a 75 year old self-acknowledged rightwinger who has decided to go it alone and impose strict curbs on local green house gas emissions. Some have compared his initiatives to those of California's Governor Schwartzenegger's differences with the Bush administration. As of 2010 Tokyo will impose caps on emissions on its largest polluters, along with credit trading for those who go over the limit.

Financial Times has more details, quoting Yurika Ayukawa, a climate activist and academic, who believes Tokyo's effort could be "crucial" to shaping national policy ahead of the G8 summit: "There is pressure for Japan to show more leadership," she said.

FT: Tokyo mayor leads on climate

Stay tuned, we should have a lot more treehugging news from Japan shortly, thanks to greenz.jp - a NGO I really like.

Comments

owenandbenjamin said…
It is nice to know that California is considered a worldwide leader in this subject.
12:25 am, June 06, 2008
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