In addition, in October 2021 the national plan for countermeasures against global warming was launched, or rather updated on a new basis. The aim of the plan is to reconcile the structural reform of the industrial system with economic growth.
The example of SoftBank
SoftBank Group Corporation, the Japanese multinational financial giant based in Tokyo, has stated that by 2030 it will switch to virtually 100% renewable energy for its business operations and electricity consumption. It will also implement a series of energy-saving measures using cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The company then announced that it will also act on its supply chains, with the aim of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, including the greenhouse gas emissions of business partners and other sources.
Coca-Cola Japan and the recycling of PET bottles
Coca-Cola has a very strong industrial presence in Japan. Besides Coca-Cola Japan, it has five national bottlers plus affiliates. The goals the company has set itself are to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared with 2015 levels by 2030, and by 30% across the entire supply chain.
It is worth noting that this target is more ambitious than the global one of The Coca-Cola Company, which provides for a 25% reduction.
However, the most significant project of the beverage giant’s Japanese subsidiary is the one that is part of Coca-Cola’s so-called ‘World Without Waste’. Here too, according to the management of Coca-Cola Japan, the results in the Japanese beverage industry are the highest of any Coca-Cola system in the world. The company in fact believes it can turn all its PET bottles into 100% sustainable materials by 2030.
If it succeeds, the entire Coca-Cola system in Japan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 26,000 tonnes and plastics made from new petroleum-based raw materials by around 29,000 tonnes a year.
Could Japan be the first decarbonised society?
The Metropolitan Assembly of a city like Tokyo, the megalopolis par excellence, is taking concrete steps to drastically reduce its environmental impact.
Yoriki Koie, Governor of Tokyo, announced at the WEF in Davos that he will set a ‘Carbon Half’ policy target to halve the city’s greenhouse gases by 2030 compared with 2000 levels.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is committed to imposing CO2 emission regulations on businesses and other bodies, as well as on the residential sector, which accounts for about 30% of the city’s consumption.
The impact of the latter on emissions is in fact considerable. Comparing Tokyo’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 with those of 2000, the transport sector fell by half and the industrial and commercial sector fell by 7.4%, while the residential sector rose by 32.9% (a figure also influenced by habits that changed during the pandemic).
The city administration is strongly committed to the adoption of solar panels. It has in fact required 50 of the largest home builders operating in Tokyo to fit homes with solar panels. This mandate will cover around half of the 46,000 new homes built each year in the capital.
