24 July 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Daily Yomiuri

The government plans to set up a headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office to tackle global warming by coordinating measures prepared by ministries to deal with climate change, sources said.

By setting up the section as early as August, the government aims to facilitate cooperation among ministries on global warming issues ahead of next year’s Group of Eight summit meeting in Toyakocho, Hokkaido.

The government plans to recruit private sector personnel or civil servants to the posts of Cabinet Secretariat senior counselor–under the direct control of the prime minister–and assistants to the prime minister, to coordinate views among and give instructions to related ministries and agencies, they said.

The headquarters is likely to function as an executive secretariat on the global warming issue among the foreign minister, chief cabinet secretary, environment minister and economy, trade and industry minister.

The G-8 summit meeting held in June in Heiligendamm, Germany, agreed that each nation would study the proposal presented by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

While the European Union and the United States step up efforts to tackle global warming, the Japanese government lags behind on the issue, leading to a spreading sense of crisis among government officials.

Referring to the example of the United States’ Council on Environmental Quality, which is under the direct control of the U.S. president, the government decided to set up the new posts at the Prime Minister’s Office in order to transcend ministerial interests and exercise quicker decision-making on global warming policy initiatives among ministries and agencies.

Filed by Maria Robson under Climate Change