Debate is raging over the pros and cons of the proposed target of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The goal, initially proposed last June by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders at the Group of Eight summit at Heiligendamm, Germany. The leaders agreed to conduct more discussions on the subject at the G8 summit at Lake Toya, Hokkaido, in 2008.
A noted energy-issue expert says that to achieve the goal, developed nations ("Annex I" countries, or Western industrial nations, and the former Soviet and East European countries) must decrease their emissions toward zero, assuming that developing countries' total emissions will change little in coming years. This is because developed and developing nations each account for about 50 percent of global emissions. I disagree with this view.
Developing nations have abundant opportunities for low-cost reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Although they have coal-burning power stations and steelworks with obsolete equipment, Japan could help reduce their CO2emissions by 20 percent by transferring its existing conventional technologies.