A Look Back at Earth Parade 2015 in Tokyo, Kyoto: Momentum Built for Success at COP21

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The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is an issue that needs to be tackled globally in order to slow global warming. In the lead-up to the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris in December 2015, people around the world organized simultaneous actions to build momentum for that meeting, which faced the task of deciding on a new international framework to fight climate change. Now that the dust has settled, we report here on some of the actions in Japan.

On November 28 and 29, 2015, Earth Parades 2015 organized in Tokyo and Kyoto were designed based on the Global Climate March, which took place in 175 countries and was joined by over 570,000 people worldwide. Japan's parades were organized with funding from the Environmental Grants Program run by JFS corporate member Patagonia Japan. (A parade in Paris, which was expecting over 400,000 to participate, was canceled due to the consequences of terrorism on Nov. 13, 2015.)

Before the start of the parade in Tokyo, a huge cloth banner with the words "2 degrees Celsius" was unveiled above the heads of participants to cover the entire meeting site and show their determination to demand leaders to seek a target of limiting global warming to an increase of two degrees Celsius. Ben & Jerry's ice cream was handed out to parade participants, and some were holding a banner that read, "Save the Earth with love and ice cream, otherwise it melts!"

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In Kyoto, a younger group of university students from schools such as Kyoto Women's University and Kyoto University led a parade. After showing their determination to hand over a baton to Paris from Kyoto with hopes for the successful adoption of the Paris Agreement, they walked the streets for about an hour, all wearing blue, their signature color.

COP 21 began on November 30, 2015, and a new framework Paris Agreement was adopted on December 12, marking a major milestone 18 years after the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. On the premise that the rise in the global mean temperature must be kept below two degrees relative to the pre-Industrial Revolution era, the Agreement also says that efforts should be made to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. To achieve that goal, the world is asked to take action to shift the global emissions of greenhouse gases downward as soon as possible and attain zero emissions in the latter half of this century.

Under the new agreement, every participating country, including the world's largest emitters, is required to submit and update its reduction targets, report its contributions in a common and flexible manner, and have its efforts reviewed every five years. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the main achievement of COP 21, the Paris Agreement, which all countries joined and adopted as a fair and viable framework.