3 Review(s)

The presence of an international regime will lead to low-carbon development. The Kyoto Protocol is the first step towards achieving this objective. In this publication, a more comprehensive international regime for the post-Kyoto Protocol world is pursued, based on the experience obtained from the first commitment period set forth in the protocol. It is through emissions targets set for each country and the policies toward meeting the targets that a de facto low-carbon economy will be constructed. Even in countries with identical emissions targets, the implementation of different policies to meet this objective will lead to different types of economies. This volume focuses primarily on the following aspects: the role of local government bodies, the selection of domestic policies, the combination of policies, the integration of policies, the political and administrative systems that serve as a basis for policies, the technological innovations related to the policies, and the revenue sources to rebuild infrastructure. While many chapters discuss the experiences in Japan, the results from collaborative research between Japan and the Republic of Korea, and comparative studies between Japan and Germany are also included. The chapters adopt different perspectives, looking at the issue from the discipline of economics as well as the neo-institutionalist perspective.