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The Role of Sub-National Actors in Climate Change Policy. The Case of Tokyo

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Asie Visions
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Tokyo is known as a pioneer throughout the history of Japan’s environmental policy, often being compared to California in the United States or Paris in France. Following the global trend of growing local initiatives tackling climate change, Tokyo introduced a cap-and-trade scheme in 2010 ahead of a national implementation.

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The Tokyo Cap-and-Trade Program is the first of its kind that regulates CO2 emissions from all business sectors, where energy consumers are defined in terms of the business establishments they own. Tokyo’s initiative is largely seen as a reaction to the modest national commitment, following the tradition of center-local rivalry.

This study first explains the centre-local relationship in the history of Japan’s environmental governance. It then analyzes the development of the Tokyo’s flagship climate policy and its implications for national and other sub-national governments in Japan. The tactics used by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to overcome business opposition typically seen in the introduction of GHG control, and future policy challenges are also discussed. The study finds that Tokyo’s policy encourages behavioral changes and technological improvement in the business sector, going a step beyond the existing culture of energy conservation in Japan. An emission trading scheme is often associated with the collapse of carbon markets and the “money game”, rather than a practical tool to reduce CO2 emissions, but the Tokyo Cap-and-Trade Program has demonstrated a policy impact that recasts such an image. A known case of policy diffusion to Saitama prefecture, an immediate neighbor of Tokyo with the fifth largest population in Japan, is also discussed to elaborate on the potential domestic diffusion of the policy.

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The Role of Sub-National Actors in Climate Change Policy. The Case of Tokyo

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Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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06 September 2023
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Date de publication
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The China-led AIIB, a geopolitical tool?

Date de publication
14 March 2025
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The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2016, on a Chinese initiative, constituted an attempt to bridge the gap in infrastructure financing in Asia. However, it was also perceived in the West as a potential vehicle for China’s geostrategic agendas, fueling the suspicion that the institution might compete rather than align with existing multilateral development banks (MDBs) and impose its own standards.

Françoise NICOLAS
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Jammu and Kashmir in the Aftermath of August 2019

Date de publication
25 February 2025
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The abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), has been on the agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for many decades.

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The Role of Sub-National Actors in Climate Change Policy. The Case of Tokyo