INFORMATION ON THE ACQUISITION OF CERTIFIED EMISSION REDUCTIONS TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING
The Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to stop global warming, is called the “Kyoto Mechanism.” It sanctions international cooperation to reduce greenhouse gases.
It includes the Emission Trading by advanced nations, the Joint Implementatiaon (JT) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that allow industrialized countries to meet part of their required cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce emissions in other industrialized countries.
The South Korean enterprise, which is the basis for the CER trust that Seicho-No-Ie has acquired, is a CDM, and it is recognized by the CDM Executive Board of the United Nations. The acquisition costs for CERs is 3,500 Yen for one ton (CO2). This includes management and service fees.
While it is strongly criticized as being a contributor to neglect in self-efforts at CO2 reductions, from the time of the start of talks on the Kyoto Protocol, Japan’s manufacturing sector and so forth had already introduced world-class energy saving technology. To reduce greenhouse gases, further efforts to save energy and also the Certified Emission Reductions based on the Kyoto Mechanism, are indispensable.
Transactions on CERs involving tens of thousand of tons have been done on corporate levels in Japan. The products that are offered by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank are small lot consignments that are sold in one thousand ton units and they are easy to acquire since the bank executes the complex application and management duties on behalf of the purchasers.
According to news reports, 6 organizations have acquired CERs beginning with Seicho-No-Ie (5,000 tons), Tokyo Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. (10,000 tons), SANRIO Co. letd. (5,000 tons) and electric machinery and appliance manufacturers.
That Seicho-No-Ie, a religious organization, has taken the lead in acquiring CERs is significant in light of the fact that even among corporations and organizations, which are not large-scale emitters of CO2, there will be many who seek to do so from the standpoint of protecting the earth’s environment and performing their social responsibility.