Some 60 Japanese business groups rallied Thursday in Tokyo against an Environment Ministry-proposed tax on fossil fuels.
The groups, including the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, adopted a resolution declaring strong opposition to the environmental tax and handed it to a representative from the ruling coalition.
"The government is required to take measures against global warming other than the environmental tax," said Kazumoto Yamamoto, cochairman of the Nippon Keidanren Committee on Environment and Safety.
This was the first large rally of business groups in Japan since last December's rally against an increase in pension premiums.
A major group absent from the rally was the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, which has expressed opposition to the Environment Ministry proposal but has said it would not be opposed to some form of taxation aimed at combating global warming.
Nippon Keidanren did not invite the association to take part in the rally.