June 5 is World Environment Day

World Environment Day (WED), which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972, occurs annually on June 5.  The objective is to empower people to effect sustainable development.  This year's theme is climate change and this year’s host is Mexico whose capital, Mexico City, is either the third largest city in the world according to one source or the second largest according to another source.  Mexico accounts for around 1.5 % of global greenhouse gas emissions.

In December of this year there will be a globally critical meeting in Copenhagen to agree on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

And right now I am in Tokyo which on most lists is the largest city in the world and where the Environment minister, Tetsuo Saito, is arguing for a 15% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2020.  The Environment Minister has stated that Japan should aim for a 25 % reduction in total — 15 percentage points by domestic efforts and the remaining 10 points by forest absorption and the purchase of emission credits from other countries.  Japan is already doing a lot to reduce emissions. Yesterday I visited a power company in southern Japan where employees are encouraged not to wear ties and jackets, enabling a higher room temperature and reducing power usage for air conditioning.