Domestic global-warming debate is heating up as the Diet discusses a bill to revise the nation's global-warming prevention law and prepares to approve the Kyoto climate accord for ratification. The centerpiece of this law will be a new national scheme -- a Kyoto Objective Achievement Plan -- to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with Japan's Kyoto Protocol target, 6 percent of 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012.
This blueprint is crucial to putting Japan on the right track to paring greenhouse gas emissions. Cabinet ministers gave the scheme the nod in March at the Prime Minister's Official Residence -- while chauffeurs kept their cars idling outside.
Sadly, the plan sorely lacks bite as well as public support. While long on ideas, it is short on incentives and implementation details -- both essential for reducing emissions. Overall the plan reads less like a recipe for meeting international commitments and more like a desperate government wish list.