Japanese Firms Interested in Kyoto Mechanisms Overseas

While planning business expansions both at home and abroad, many Japanese companies are showing increasing interest in the Kyoto Mechanisms overseas as a means of attaining their emission reduction targets, according to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in its survey of Japanese firms' international operations in fiscal 2005 released on April 7, 2006. These companies were found to be interested in increasing business opportunities by selling environment technology or trading emissions credits.

The survey focused on the overseas business expansion of Japanese companies, analyzing trends in overseas and domestic businesses, business strategies in China, positions on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and initiatives related to the Kyoto Mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Joint Implementation (JI).

In November 2005, JETRO sent questionnaires to a total of 3,152 JETRO member companies: 2,508 firms in the manufacturing, retail and wholesale sectors, and 644 firms in other non-manufacturing sectors showing interest in international businesses (questions on the Kyoto Mechanisms only). Among these, a total of 960 companies, or 30.5 percent, responded.

Of the respondents, 13.8 percent had already introduced or were going to introduce CDM or JI projects into their business activities, and another 42 percent of the respondents showed an interest in doing so but had no concrete action plan. Of all the business sectors, the international manufacturing sector had the highest rate of interest in the Kyoto Mechanisms. While about 70 percent of major companies showed an interest, over a half of small and medium-sized enterprises had no plans to introduce or showed no interest in CDM or JI projects, indicating a substantial gap among companies of different sizes.


Posted: 2006/07/18 10:28:42 AM
Japanese version