China and Japan's environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

China and Japan's environment - Essay Example In 2005, China was the top emitter of the greenhouse having a 16.4 percent emission rate while Japan had 3.1 percent emission rate (Jin, Dong & Chen, 2012). Historically, China and Japan has been involved in various policies in effort to reduce various forms of pollution including the Kyoto protocol that committed state parties to reducing emission of greenhouses gasses. Recently, China and Japan invested heavily in financial as well as policy resources in action to ensure that the reduction of greenhouse gas emission is achieved. The climatic change policies of both countries have been driven by domestic consideration including economic restructuring, energy demand as well as smog (Wiener, 2004). In efforts to reduce emission, both countries agreed to budget towards a low carbon society. In achieving this objective, both countries developed ample policy frameworks designed to control individual activity emissions, as well as corporate investment emissions. A low carbon society can also be developed by introducing a market-based reduction scheme such as cap and trade system, carbon taxes among others. Fundamentally, China and Japan’s environmental policies benefited public health. Various health issues are related to emission of greenhouse gas. Emission of greenhouse gas causes destruction to the Ozone layer. Destruction of the Ozone layer can cause various health issues including skin diseases, eye problems, and cancer among others. The Chinese and Japanese policy was also appealing to the general moral obligation regarding the emission of the greenhouse gas. Considering the potential differences between Japan and China in terms of their norms, there was need to join necessarily to ensure that the universe is safe from harmful gas (Wiener, 2004). One of the main challenges in addressing the problem of greenhouse gas emission is policy implementation follow up. Follow up is very