International Efforts on Climate Change and Carbon Pricing in Japan

This chapter provides an overview of international initiatives on climate change, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, with an emphasis on the Japanese perspective. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and how it led to the emergence of the Joint Crediting Mechanisms (JCM) will also be explained. Then the chapter considers the role of carbon pricing in reducing carbon emissions, explicating carbon taxes in Japan and regional emissions trading schemes in Tokyo and Saitama. After addressing design issues of carbon pricing, the chapter concludes with a discussion of Japan’s carbon pricing schemes and Green Transformation (GX) policies.