FY2011 Part 1, Chapter 4 ー To Achieve a Green Growth Nation to Lead the World Section 1 Green Economy and Green Innovation
Chapter 4
To Achieve a Green Growth Nation to Lead
the World
As described in Chapter 1, one of the themes of Rio+20 is
the green economy in the context of sustainable development
and poverty eradication. In 2011, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) published  Towards a
Green Economy, while the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its Towards
Green Growth. Furthermore, articles on the green economy
and green growth are described in the G20 Seoul Summit
Document, the APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy (2010), and
the G8 Deauville summit declaration (2011), indicating that
efforts to achieve a green economy and green growth have
now become a global trend.
Based on this international movement, Section 1 of
Chapter 4 provides an overview of the current status of
green innovation around the world and in Japan, while
the remaining sections look at Japan’s initiatives towards
creating a low-carbon society, sound material-cycle society,
and symbiotic society.
Section 1 Green Economy and Green Innovation
1 What is Green Innovation?
Environment and economy are closely related. It is vital
to recognize this relationship as being one that produces
a sustainable and positive cycle, rather than trade-offs. As
described in Chapter 1, the great driving force for achieving
these social systems is green innovation: in other words,
innovation in the energy and environmental sectors.
At present, individual countries define their mid- to
long-term ideals and goals for the environment, economy,
and society as state strategies, while promoting policies
for achieving green innovation (Table 4-1-1). For example,
Germany has set forth guidelines under the Energy
Concept (2010) for reducing their “Green House Gas”
emissions by 80-95% (compared with 1990) by 2050. At the
same time, Germany has set a goal of meeting 60% of its
final energy consumption needs with renewable energy by
2050. China has set a goal of a 17% reduction in 2010 carbon
dioxide emissions per GDP by 2015 under its Twelfth FiveYear Plan (2011). From 2011-2015, China plans to invest
about 468 billion dollars in environmental industries. Korea
has released a vision for low-carbon green growth, setting
goals in three directions and ten detailed sectors. Korea
has defined a vision that creates 141-160 billion dollars in
spillover effects for production and 1.56-1.81 million jobs in
green industries.
Japan has defined three goals to be achieved by 2020
under its New Growth Strategy (approved by the cabinet
in June 2010) by promoting green innovation and a
comprehensive policy package: creating over 50 trillion
yen in a new environmental market; creating 1.4 million
new jobs in the environmental sector; and reducing global
GHG emissions by 1.3 billion tons or more using Japan’s
technological strengths in the private sector (equivalent to
Japan’s total emissions per year). At the same time, three
projects have been designated as key national strategy
projects for promoting these efforts: renewable energy and
its rapid dissemination, by introducing a  “Feed-in Tariff
System;” “Future City” initiative; and “Forest and Forestry
Revitalization Plan.”
2 Measures to Achieve Green Innovation
(1) Green Innovation and Environmental
Technology
a) Direction to be Pursued by Environmental
Research and Technology Development
Technology development is a critical part of innovation.
Japan has a history of developing world-leading
environmental technology despite keen global competition,
environmental pollution, and oil crises. Making an active
contribution to solving global and domestic environmental
issues while further developing technology is essential.
Getting effective results from technological development
requires intensive research and development as well
as established goals. In June 2010, the Ministry of the
Environment formulated the  “Promotional strategy of
environmental research and environmental technology
development” with the goal of promoting priority issues
and effective policies for environmental research and
technology development to be pursued in the coming
five-year period. The strategy defines mid- to long-term
(2020 and 2050) modalities, and outlines four goals for
achieving a sustainable society: (1) Low-carbon Society;
(2) Sound Material-Cycle Society; (3) Society in Harmony
with Nature; and (4) Safe and Secure Society. In addition to
these, the strategy also outlined research and technology
development goals in individual fields, comprehensive
research (common to all fields) in relation to the ideal
mid- to long-term society, cross-sectorial research, system
configurations for incorporating technology, and promotion
of research in community-building scenarios (Table 4-1-2).
The first follow-up session was held in July 2011 to establish
shared recognition of the following issues common to all
fields: ensuring safe, secure, and strategic use of resources;
clarifying the correlation between climate change,
countermeasures, and sustainability; and motivating a shift
to an ideal society and strengthening a cross-disciplinary
approach, including identifying optimal processes.
(2) Green Innovation and Environmental
Financing
Japan has over 1,400 trillion yen in personal financial
assets. To promote green innovation, it is vital to secure an
effective and sufficient money supply that includes these
personal assets as well as other funds within Japan, and
to fund worldwide business activities that contribute to
environment conservation.
Environmental financing has two primary roles. The first
is loans and investments to be directly used for projects that
reduce environment impact. Specific uses for these funds
vary; for example, an estimate suggests that additional
United Kingdom
Reference: Ministry of the Environment
Low Carbon
Industry Strategy （2009）
・Offering action plans to strengthen the UK’s industrial competitiveness in a variety of
sectors, including renewable energy (e.g. offshore wind and tidal power generation),
low-carbon vehicles, and promotion of the low-carbon chemical industry.
・Creating 400,000 jobs by 2015.
Germany
Energy Concept （2010）
・Formulating guidelines for reducing GHG emissions by 80-95% by 2050.
・Goal to meet 60% of final energy consumption needs with renewable energy by 2050.
United States
American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of
2009（ARRA）
・Economic stimulus package adopted in February 2009. Appropriates 94 billion dollars
out of a total 787 billion dollars of investment to environmental sectors (e.g., energy
saving, renewable energy, water, waste, and mass transportation).
・Estimated to create about 720,000 jobs in 2012 in energy saving and renewable energy.
China
Twelfth Five-Year Plan
(2011)
・State Five-Year Plan between 2011 and 2015.
・Goal of reducing 2010 carbon dioxide emissions per GDP by 17% by 2015.
・Plans for about 468 billion dollars invested in the environmental industry between 2011
and 2015. Industry scale is expected to reach about 743 billion dollars by 2015.
・To achieve the reduction target, the central government approved an action plan in
November 2011 for reducing carbon dioxide.
Korea
Green Growth Korea
（2008）
・Announced a vision for low-carbon green growth.
・Goals set in three directions and ten detailed sectors to be executed over the five-year
period between 2009 and 2013.
・Expected to create a ripple effect of 141-160 billion dollars. Also expected to create
1.56-1.81 million jobs in the green industry.
Table 4-1-1  Green innovation initiatives by country
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Chapter 4 To Achieve a Green Growth Nation to Lead the World