Kambayashi/AP - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama speaks during his first press conference of the year.

Japan released its New Policy Agenda of Japan on Climate Change in English in mid-December.  (Download the agenda here).   According to their document, it both verified their proposed reductions of 25% and proposed new substantive reductions.

“. . . . Prime Minister Hatoyama stated that the new mid-term target to reduce emissions by 25% compared to 1990 levels was hinged on establishing “a fair and effective international framework in which all major economies participate,” but made no clarification whatsoever of his standards for “fairness.” In fact, perhaps equitability criteria have not yet been defined even within the government. . . .

“The new mid-term target, or “30% reductions below 2005 levels” represents the most stringent of the four options discussed in the Mid-Term Target Review Committee under the former administration. It had once been dismissed because it would have too large an impact on the economy and the policy tools and scale that it called for were unrealistic.”

The U.S. is only proposing a 17% reduction in emissions based on 2005 levels, which is about a 4% reduction based on 1990 levels.  It must be tough for the U.S. government to be “bettered” in this way by countries as small but ambitious as Japan.  Can’t the U.S.  do more?  We need to at least try.  More ideas from the Japanese agenda:

Actually the number of 17% of the U.S. is with respect to 2005.

Vision for a Developed-Developing Country Cooperation Model: For International Contribution by Industry to Climate change Solutions
(1) Industry should also consider ways to “bridge” developed and developing countries. Contributions should be centered on substantively reducing GHG emissions through energy and environmental technology transfer and international intersectoral cooperation and agreement and supplying products that will contribute to creating a global low-carbon consumption society in terms of LCA (life cycle assessment).

(2) Japan, the US and China should launch a model project of developed-developing country cooperation based on public-private partnership in areas including energy conservation, renewable energies and nuclear energy. Reductions generated in the project should be trilaterally accredited among the three countries as offset credits that could be used for the purpose of staying in compliance with domestic schemes.

(3) Furthermore, industry could also look into setting up a new organization provisionally called the Institution for Engineering
Solutions for Climate change, which would be based on public-private partnership to promote the projects described above, to implement the Voluntary Action Plan in wider international dimensions and to collect benchmarking data.

They make a good point below about individuals versus countries (which is also an idea I like since Copenhagen collapsed into political fighting Individuals and their cities and states will make up a huge part of fighting climate change, but how much is possible is yet unknown).

However, in order to employ equalized emissions per capita as an equitability standard, fundamental rules under the Kyoto Protocol [...]