Japan struggles to catch up on sustainable development
Sustainable development – finding a way to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs – is an issue that could well shape the 21st century.
Japan, like other advanced nations, has certainly not overlooked this issue. However, while Japan has become a pioneer in environmental technology, in many respects it now trails other advanced countries when it comes to sustainable business practices and consumer behaviour.
A good example can be found in the construction industry. The average life-span of a building in Japan, at 30 years, lags far behind the 90-year average in the UK.
Just as inefficient is Japan’s use of insulation and glazing. While high-efficiency triple glazing and “low-e” double-glazing (many times more thermally efficient than single panes) are the norm in Europe, single glazing still satisfies building standards in most of Japan.
And although some 35% of the heat loss for a typical house is energy that escapes through the walls (and up to 40% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from buildings), Japanese housing typically has little or no insulation. Insulating dwellings properly is one of the cheapest and most effective ways of saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions.
“Construction was a key reason Japan didn’t meet its Kyoto Protocol target; it plays such a major role in greenhouse gas emissions,” says Duco Delgorge, formerly chair of the EBC Sustainable Development Committee. “It’s not that Japan can’t do better; it’s just that it doesn’t.”
So what’s the solution?
For John Mader, a senior project manager at property and infrastructure solution provider Lend Lease Japan, the country needs to introduce a system to make sustainable or green buildings more attractive. “European technologies are not necessarily more advanced than what is available in Japan. The big difference is the aggressiveness with which Europe is pursuing sustainable design strategies for its buildings. This is a combination of incentives and legal regulations – carrots and sticks. For example, double-glazing is required in many European countries. In Japan it remains optional,” Mader says.
Japan does have a building-rating system – CASBEE (comprehensive assessment system for building environmental efficiency), which is a technical system aimed at designers and builders. Its drawback, however, is that it fails to target the real estate market.
“Designers and builders are being encouraged to create more environmentally sound buildings, which is of course a good thing. The approach in Europe, America and Australia – where the BREEAM [building research establishment environmental assessment method], LEED [leadership in energy and environmental design], and Green Star rating systems were developed – is to create a rating system that is also easy to understand and provides incentives for real estate developers, facilities managers and asset managers to go green,” Mader says.
“They get bragging rights for creating sustainable buildings. Real estate analysts have pored over lease and sales data, and there is now mounting evidence that green buildings in the US have higher occupancy rates, command higher rents, and sell for more than less sustainable buildings.”
(See October 2010 EURObiZ article on green construction)
Japan also lags in the field of organic produce. Organic food represents just 0.2% of all food sold in Japan (compared with 2% in Europe), and Japanese agriculture still relies heavily on pesticides and fertilisers.
“People are less aware of organic produce in Japan, compared to Europe, and those that are aware have to pay a very high premium for it,” Delgorge says. “A big issue is that the domestic supply isn’t there, yet it is very expensive and challenging [because of tariffs and regulations] to import.”
For instance, food that is certified as organic in Europe and which meets Japanese Agricultural Standards (JAS) for organic plants and processed foods has to obtain a supplementary organic certificate from the embassy of the country from which it is being exported every time it is imported into Japan.
“This eats up so much time and resources, and probably stops some smaller companies from doing business with Japan,” Delgorge says. “We want to see companies in sustainable development unhampered by regulation in Japan.”
Then there is sustainable consumer behaviour. An obvious example of where Japan could do better is the excessive amount of packaging still accepted by many Japanese consumers.
But Sonny Söderberg, chair of the EBC Environmental Technology Committee and president of Tomra Japan, believes positive changes could be afoot.
“In Europe the need to save [energy] has been obvious to everyone for decades, but it is improving here now too, especially after 3/11. Eco awareness appears to be on a huge growth curve this year,” Söderberg says.
“That said, the Japanese still maybe think they are better recyclers than they are just because they separate trash; but what is the point of separating things if it all ends up in the same pit? What we need to do is get more people to understand what happens to their garbage after it is collected; we still need to build more awareness [like that in Europe] that garbage is a valuable resource.”
Incentives could help with that. There was some success with the government’s Eco Point system in 2010, which rewarded consumers who purchased eco-friendly goods with points that could then be redeemed for store coupons and discounts. Still, Japanese consumers have relatively few incentives to reassess and change their behaviour.
Take PET bottles. Approximately 23% of PET bottles aren’t collected after use in Japan. That figure is in single digits in Scandinavia. Put a different way, roughly 125,000 tons of PET bottle material goes uncollected (and not recycled) each year in Japan.
One way Tomra Japan is hoping to change that is by introducing RVMs (reverse vending machines) – a common sight in Scandinavia – which can collect and process items such as used bottles and cans. People who use the machines receive points or coupons that can then be redeemed for store discounts. In Scandinavia, an industry-wide bottle deposit system means consumer recyclers can accrue cash-backs – a system that Söderberg believes would help recycling really take off if adopted in Japan.
Since launching its Japan office in 2008, Tomra Japan has installed 400 RVMs across the country. Seven & i Holdings (Ito-Yokado department stores and Seven-Eleven convenience stores) is a notable client. Tokyo’s Adachi ward has also installed 75 of Tomra’s PET bottle machines as part of its efforts to reduce waste. As a by-product, the ward office saves money, as the machines also shred the bottles to an eighth of their usual volume, meaning the ward’s garbage trucks need to make far fewer collection runs.
The uptake may not be rapier-quick, but Tomra Japan’s success still points to a move in the right direction. Is it a sign that Japan could catch up on sustainability?
“Japan, in many areas, is 20 years behind [in terms of sustainability], but that doesn’t mean it will take 20 years to catch up,” Delgorge says. “Tipping points will eventually be reached, then the evolution will accelerate, but change will have to come from many players. There are people making a lot of efforts already; what’s important is how we all do something to make that the norm, not the exception.”
Sustainability in business
Our committee members are interested in putting sustainable development into action in everyday business. Naturally, our members also share an interest in contributing to a more trade-friendly climate in Japan as a way of supporting sustainable growth. That’s why we are excited about our 10 April sustainable development conference, “The End of Business as We Know It”, which will address recurring issues facing industry leaders engaged in sustainable development. The conference will highlight key lessons for those seeking to improve corporate performance in this area. I expect the conference also to set the tone for a follow-up series of smaller activities focused on specific topics related to embedding sustainability into corporate policy and practice.
Dylan Scudder, chairman, EBC Sustainable Development Committee.