About

Tokyo Metropolis, Japanese capital, is positioned in approximately the center of the Japanese archipelago. The overall population of Tokyo is about 13 million, and the area is about 2 188 square kilometers.

Tokyo Metropolis is a metropolitan prefecture comprising of administrative entities of special wards and municipalities. The “central” area is divided into 23 special wards (ku in Japanese), and the Tama area. The 23 special-ward area and the Tama area together form a long, narrow stretch of land, running about 90 kilometers east to west and 25 kilometers north and south. The Izu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands, two island groups in the Pacific Ocean, are also administratively part of Tokyo, despite being geographically separated from the metropolis. In 23 wards area, commercial and business facilities are heavily concentrated. This part of Tokyo has a very well-developed public transportation network, which makes for convenient transit and shopping within the area. This area covers about 622 square kilometers. The population is 8.85 million ―a population density of about 14 222 persons per square kilometer—as of September 1, 2010. Tama area is urbanized as it is adjacent to the ward area, but also has a beautiful natural environment including lakes, rivers, and green areas. This area covers about 1 160 square kilometers. The population is 4.12 million ―a population density of about 5 250 persons per square kilometer—as of September 1, 2010.

Strategy

In 2007, Tokyo Metropolitan Government established “Tokyo Climate Change Strategy” which set a basic framework of climate change mitigation strategies that TMG intended to carry out over the next 10 years. At the same time, the “10-Year Project for a Carbon-Minus Tokyo” started. The progress of this project has been checked and opened to the public.

Tokyo metropolitan environment master plan, which was released in March 2008, set a target to reduce Tokyo’s GHG emissions by 25 per cent from the 2000 level by 2020. In FY2007, total amount of GHG emissions in Tokyo was 55.78 million tons CO2-eq. As emissions from commercial and industrial sectors accounted for 49 per cent of total amount, reduction of GHG from office buildings or factories has been a top priority. As a measure for large scale facilities, “Tokyo Cap-and-Trade Program” has started from April 2010. Facilities that consume energy more than 1 500kl of crude oil a year are obliged to reduce 6 per cent -8 per cent GHG emissions during the first compliance period from FY2010-FY2014. Large scale facilities can meet their obligation either by reducing their own GHG emissions or by purchasing offsets.

“Tokyo Green Building Program” requires newly extended or reconstructed buildings with floor area of 5 000m2 or larger to submit their building environment plans which include energy efficient measures, aiming to enhance energy efficiency in new buildings. “Tokyo CO2 Emission Reduction Program” requires small scale offices to report the amount of their energy consumption and their energy efficient measures, aiming to reduce GHG emissions from small scale offices. In addition, there are a lot of GHG reduction policies to accomplish Tokyo’s reduction target, such as promotion of energy efficiency in public facilities, expansions of renewable energy use, cooperation with municipalities in and around Tokyo and overseas cities, etc.

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