INTRODUCTION

After the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords, global climate change negotiations went into the implementation stage of the Kyoto Protocol. Annex B Parties to the Kyoto Protocol expedited their processes toward achieving the quantified GHGs (Greenhouse Gases) targets inscribed in Annex B so that they could ratify the Protocol by 2002, the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Japan, as one of the Annex B parties, prepared a domestic policy to combat global warming and ratified the Protocol on June 4, 2002, with a view to contributing to the implementation of the Protocol in time for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).

This chapter discusses the essence of the decisions of the Kyoto Protocol, and the development of Japanese domestic policy to achieve the targets set out in the Protocol.

THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

Some of the key elements set out in the Kyoto Protocol are: (1) the quantified GHG reduction targets; (2) introduction of flexible mechanisms; and (3) considerations on land use, land use change, and the forest sector. In this section, each of these will be discussed in some detail.

The quantified reduction targets of GHGs

The Kyoto Protocol set out in its Annex B the differentiated reduction targets of GHG emissions from Annex I parties, with a view to reducing their total emissions in average by five percent relative to the 1990 levels, during the commitment period from year 2008 to 2012.