Labor & Employment Law

Japan Moves Closer to Clean Energy Standards

By admin

AFL-CIO Union Industries Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), attending the next round of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This is the third of a series of blogs on the talks. Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2.

Earlier this week, two leaders of Japan’s Trade Union Confederation (RENGO) briefed the global union delegation on climate change legislation under consideration by lawmakers in Tokyo.

Toyoji Sugiyama, director of RENGO’s social policy division, and Mitsuru Maruta said the legislation is backed by Japan’s new government, which was elected last year with RENGO’s support.

The “Basic Bill on Global Warming Countermeasures” passed the Lower House in March and is now under consideration in the Upper House. The main features of the bill include an ambitious target of reducing emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels in 2020. The legislation also calls for:

• A domestic emission trading system.
• A global warming tax.
• A fixed price purchasing system for renewable energy.

The ITUC successfully lobbied for some of the “just transition” measures the U.S. union movement is seeking in our own legislation.

RENGO is continuing to agitate for a greater emphasis on energy efficiency, something U.S. unions hope to achieve, as well. As Sugiyama explained:

Japan’s carbon emissions are evenly split 50/50 between home and work but 100 percent of our effort is focused on the utilities and industry. We do not want to lessen the industrial focus but we do believe to achieve our targets we must also address households and buildings.

In the United States, we have the opposite problem. Carbon emissions from commercial and industrial buildings account for half of the emissions and half comes from homes, but the government’s efforts so far have overwhelmingly been aimed at residential rehab.  

RENGO is not only lobbying government for environmental friendly products such as energy efficiency appliances with low carbon labeling, they also have launched a unique effort to demonstrate their beliefs with union families.

The “Eco-Life Family” initiative seeks to make visible environmental-friendly lifestyles of union families. RENGO has recruited 100 union families whose homes will be equipped with a special meter to monitor energy usage. Daily usage data will be transmitted and recorded to a server through the Internet.

Each family will use their July usage as a baseline and then set personal consumption cutting goals for the following three months (August-October). All the results will be made public thorough a RENGO website. RENGO sees this “leading by example” demonstration as a way to help other union members and the public understand how changes in lifestyle can make a real difference in energy usage.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).