Nation's First CO2 Emissions Calculation System Using Shopping Receipts Launched in Okinawa

Keywords:　Climate Change　NGO / Citizen　Non-manufacturing industry　Policy / Systems　

A city-wide environmental accounting service, Eco-Hana, has been launched for businesses in Naha City of Okinawa Prefecture within a ubiquitous zone designated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Eco-Hana is an online service based on data input through personal computers and mobile phones. This is the nation's first service to enable bookkeeping of both finances and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for households.

Restaurants and supermarkets in Naha City are cooperating with this online service, including five braches of Ryukyu Jusco, a major Japanese supermarket chain. Shoppers can easily maintain records by reading data on shopping receipts. They can also register shopping data from non-participating stores in the city.

The data from shoppers are automatically processed based on CO2 emissions per unit sales according to the 2000 consumer price basis of the Embodied Energy and Emission Intensity Data Using Input-Output Tables (3EID) calculated by the National Institute for Environmental Studies.

At present, the Eco-Hana service is only available in Okinawa Prefecture, but there are plans to gradually expand the service area.

Take Action Now! -- Make Your Life More Eco-Friendly to Create Low-Carbon Society No.56 (April 2007)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/
027827.html

Posted: 2009/06/07 06:00:15 AM