Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to have a discussion about one of the nations to which the senator referred in his question—that is, Japan—because I would make clear that over the past few months, the Japanese Prime Minister has emphasised on numerous occasions that Japan remains serious about tackling climate change. The Japanese Prime Minister has said:

… Japan made it clear that it remains committed to tackle climate change, despite immense challenges caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Japan has already implemented a number of measures to reduce emissions. They have had a voluntary emissions trading scheme in place for seven years now. Tokyo and its adjacent province have mandatory cap-and-trade systems in place with absolute caps which will continue. Tokyo's scheme covers the industrial and commercial sectors responsible for around 40 per cent of Tokyo's emissions. Japan already has a fossil fuel consumption tax in place. (Time expired)