Annual Report on the Environment 02 Table of Contents in Japan 2020 03

The problem of climate change and other global - 03 1 environmental crises (1) Climate change and extreme phenomena - 04 The problem of (2) Marine plastic pollution and loss of biodiversity - 04

Actions by the national government, local governments, - 05 2 businesses, etc. to bring about social change climate change and (1) Domestic trends regarding climate change, etc. - 06 (2) Actions by the national government focusing on climate change mitigation - 09 (3) Actions by non-government players toward development of a decarbonized society - 10 (4) Actions by the national government regarding marine plastic and biodiversity - 12 other global (5) Sustainable, decarbonized regional development – Creating a circular and - 13 ecological economy (6) Development of a circular and ecological economy now underway - 14 (7) Promotion of ESG financing for building a circular and ecological economy - 16 environmental Efforts to bring about social change - 17 3 that begin with individuals (1) Lifestyle innovations for developing a sustainable, decarbonized society - 18 crises (2) Clothes, food, and housing - 19 (3) Travel, tra‘c, and transportation - 20 (4) Work - 21 Our modern lifestyles and economic and social systems have been (5) Leisure - 22 established on the foundation of a stable, rich environment. However, the expansion of human activities has placed a great Activities for reconstruction and environmental - 23 burden on the global environment and has led to global remediation after the Great East Japan Earthquake 4 environmental crises in a variety of forms, such as the problem of (1) Air dose rates - 24 climate change, marine plastic pollution, and loss of biodiversity. (2) Initiatives for restoring the environment in disaster stricken areas - 24

Environmental administration response to - 26 5 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1) Environmental administration actions regarding COVID-19 to date - 27 (2) Environmental administration response regarding COVID-19 emergency economic measures - 27

Circular and Ecological Economy - 28 (Japan’s vision to realize decarbonization and SDGs)

Additional materials - GHG Emissions in Japan - 30 - Biodiversity - 32 - Sound material-cycle society - 34 - Atmospheric and water environments - 36 - Environmental risks of chemical substances - 38

This booklet is a re-edited English-language digest based on Japan’s Annual Report on the Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society, and Biodiversity, which was approved by the cabinet on June 12, 2020. 1 Annual Report on the Environment 04 1. The problem of climate change and other global environmental crises in Japan 2020 05 1 Climate change and extreme phenomena Actions by the In recent years, disasters and extreme weather warming could have on various areas such as phenomena such as heat waves and heavy rainfall agriculture, forestry, sheries, natural ecosystems, have been occurring all over the world. aquatic environments, health, and economy, Japan also has su ered such calamities as climate change is also referred to as the “climate national government, Typhoon Faxai in September 2019 and Typhoon crisis” that could shake the very foundations of Hagibis in October 2019, causing widespread survival for all life. damage due to major power outages and ooding throughout the country. Also, in the summer of Number of people requiring ambulance local governments, 2018, Japan experienced record high temperatures transportation due to heat illness by year

throughout the country, and from May through (People) September the total number of people requiring 100,000 June – September 95,137 May ambulance transportation due to heat illness 80,000 71,317 businesses, etc. to bring reached 95,137, the highest number ever recorded, 58,729 60,000 55,852 and the number of deaths reached 1,581, the second 50,412 52,984 40,048 92,710 highest on record. 40,000 66,869 Although the degree to which global warming 58,729 52,948 47,624 49,583 20,000 40,048 about social change contributes to individual events is not absolutely 2,904 2,788 3,401 2,427 4,448 clear, the risk of extreme phenomena is predicted 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 to increase in the future as global warming （Year） Note: Survey period for 2013 and 2014 was June to September. As climate change increases the risk of meteorological disasters progresses. Because of the impact that global Source: Fire and Disaster Management Agency and other calamities, it may not only cause great damage to the economy and society, but could shake the very foundations of survival for humanity and all life on earth. 2 Below, as an especially important perspective on domestic trends Marine plastic pollution regarding climate change, we present aspects of social change and loss of biodiversity from the perspective of “climate action and DRR,” which incorporates the element of climate change into disaster In the area of resource circulation, marine plastic average for the past 10 million years. In other words, prevention, and also actions in “climate change and digital” litter has become a global issue. Globally, the rate of extinction is now several hundred times utilizing ICT and other elements that drive social change. approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic litter is faster. owing into the ocean every year, and a report Moreover, in Japan, the biodiversity crisis due indicates that, if we continue as we are now, plastic to reduced or discontinued human engagement We also present an overview of actions and plans by the national litter in the ocean will outweigh sh by 2050. activities in nature has become a dire problem. e government, beginning with the development of a decarbonized According to the monitoring survey of marine depopulation of hilly or mountainous rural areas, debris washed ashore in Japan, conducted by the the decrease in people pursuing careers in society, and introduce the eorts of various actors to bring about Ministry of the Environment in 2017, plastic bottles agriculture and forestry, and the aging of Japan’s social change, such as pioneering eorts by local governments, bearing Japanese labels made up a considerable population has led to problems such as the increase businesses, nancial institutions, etc., and actions and innovations portion of debris, showing that Japan’s coasts are in abandoned agricultural land and the decrease for building a circular and ecological economy—that is, attractive littered not just with debris from other countries, and aging of hunters. ese factors have contributed but also with garbage that we ourselves have to a signicant increase in the number of Sika deer regional development that can achieve decarbonization and produced. and boars and the expansion of their distribution, sustainable development goals (SDGs). In the area of biodiversity, an estimated 1 million which has resulted in severe damage to agriculture species already face extinction, and the extinction and forestry and serious impact on ecosystems. of species is now dozens of times higher than the 2