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Building Holistic Resilience: Tokyo's 2050 Strategy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Abstract
The paper examines Japan's capital city of Tokyo's “Zero Emission Tokyo Strategy.” Our work shows that Tokyo's strategy is particularly important in light of the 2030 Agenda's emphasis on greenhouse-gas emissions reduction, equitable sustainability, and building holistic resilience against all hazards. The data indicate that Tokyo's ambitions are built on a track record of global leadership in resource efficient water systems, transit networks, and other critical infrastructure. Moreover, Tokyo is part of Japan's zero-emission communities, smart cities, all-hazard resilience, and other multilevel and silo-breaking collaborative platforms. Our analysis also makes recommendations for bolstering Tokyo's strategy, to enhance co-benefits from integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation, in addition to strengthening pandemic response.
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- Copyright © The Authors 2020
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Notes
1 Tokyo's Zero Emission Strategy is available at the following URL: https://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/about_us/zero_emission_tokyo/strategy.html
2 Silo-breakers are individuals and institutions that break down the walls – or “silos”- that separate public-sector governance, business management, and other areas. For their role in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, see “Silo-breakers: Asia and the Pacific calls for integrating climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction,” United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, September 6, 2019: https://www.undrr.org/news/silo-breakers-asia-and-pacific-calls-integrating-climate-adaptation-and-disaster-risk
3 On this lack of monitoring, see “US Cities Boost Clean Energy Efforts, but Few on Track to Meet climate Goals,” American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, July 24, 2019: https://www.aceee.org/press/2019/07/us-cities-boost-clean-energy-efforts-0
4 See the US city database and assessments at “State and Local Policy Database,” American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, March, 2020: https://database.aceee.org/city-scorecard-rank
5 The Berlin City data are available (in German) at “Berlin (B),” German Federal Renewable Energies Agency: https://www.foederal-erneuerbar.de/landesinfo/bundesland/B/kategorie/top%2010/auswahl/289-anteil_erneuerbarer_/#goto_289
6 Tokyo's 2017 level of 14.1% renewable energy is displayed (in Japanese) on p. 124 of the Tokyo Environmental White Paper, 2019: https://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/basic/plan/white_paper/100200a20191031132600879.files/2019zenbun.pdf
7 Tokyo's GHG emissions data can be referenced (in Japanese) on p. 125 of the Tokyo Environmental White Paper, 2019: https://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/basic/plan/white_paper/100200a20191031132600879.files/2019zenbun.pdf
8 On this point, note that “Project Drawdown” has assessed refrigerant management/alternative refrigerants and reduced food waste as among the top actions in effective GHG emissions reduction potential. See their comparative table on the scale of potential cuts: https://drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions
9 On green infrastructure in Japan, see Andrew DeWit “Is Japan a Climate Leader? Synergistic Integration of the 2030 Agenda,” Japan Focus, February 1, 2020: https://apjjf.org/2020/3/DeWit.html
10 These results were reported by what appears to be the first ever comparison of energy and other resource flows in megacities. See Kennedy, C. et al “Energy and material flows of megacities,” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 May 12: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434724/
11 See “Creating a Sustainable City: Tokyo's Environmental Policy,” Tokyo Metropolitan Government, September 2018: http://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.jp/en/about_us/videos_documents/documents_1.files/creating_ a_sustainable_city_2018_e.pdf
12 See p. 109 “The Weight of Cities: Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization,” International Resource Panel, 2018, available at the following URL: http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/weight-cities
13 The data are compiled by the International Association of Public Transport, and published as “World Metro Figures 2018”: https://www.uitp.org/sites/default/files/cck-focus-papers-files/Statistics%20Brief%20-%20Worl d%20metro%20figures%202018V4_WEB.pdf
14 For example, Project Drawdown assess “water distribution efficiency” as representing an opportunity to halve water loss (currently 30.3 billion cubic liters/yr), reduce GHG emissions by, and save between USD 250-350 billion: https://drawdown.org/solutions/water-distribution-efficiency
15 On these items, see the OECD's work on Water and Cities: Ensuring Sustainable Futures: http://www.oecd.org/water/water-and-cities.htm
16 See p. 109 “The Weight of Cities: Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization,” International Resource Panel, 2018, available at the following URL: http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/weight-cities
17 These kinds of funds (kikin) are not peculiar to TMG, and are financed via such measures as accumulated savings from cost-cutting, unanticipated tax and related revenue increases, debt finance, and other items. Japanese subnational governments use these funds to smooth out annual budgeting as well as target special purposes (notably building municipal structures, supporting primary industries, and coping with aging). On these funds, and their striking increase in recent years, see (in Japanese) Tatsuoka Kenjiro, “Why Have Local Government Funds Increased?” JRI Review, 5(66), 2019: https://www.jri.co.jp/MediaLibrary/file/report/jrireview/pdf/11084.pdf
18 On Japanese Society 5.0's integration of cyberspace and physical space, see “Society 5.0,” Japanese Cabinet Office, nd: https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html
19 See (in Japanese) p. 20-21 of “Tokyo Metropolitan Government Budget Summary, FY 2020,” Tokyo Metropolitan Government, February:
https://www.zaimu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/syukei1/zaisei/20200124_reiwa2nendo_tokyotoyosanangaiyou/2yosanangaiyou.pdf
20 Concerning TMG's FY 2019 and FY 2020 budgets, see (in Japanese) summaries at Tokyo Metropolitan Government finance website: https://www.zaimu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/zaisei/
21 Within an already voluminous literature on these matters, see “Christina Kwauk et al., ”Girls' education in climate strategies,“ Brookings Working Paper, December 10, 2019: https://www.brookings.edu/research/girls-education-in-climate-strategies/
22 The supplementary budgets are outlined (in Japanese) in detail “Concerning additions to the FY 2019 and FY 2020 supplementary budgets,” Tokyo Metropolitan Government News, February 18, 2020: https://www.zaimu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/yosan/20200218_hoseiyosanan_tsuika.pdf
23 See “G-20 Nations Pledge $5 Trillion to Spur Global Economic Recovery From Coronavirus,” Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2020.
24 One recent assessment of the pandemic's implications for the smart city is seen in “Taking Stock of COVID-19: The Short- and Long-Term Ramifications on Technology and End Markets,” ABI Research White Paper, March 18, 2020: https://www.abiresearch.com/press/covid-19-pandemic-will-force-companies-around-world-radically-rethink-how-they-operate-and-embrace-technological-investment/
25 The Ministry of Environment “Zero Carbon Cities in Japan” mapping is available in English and regularly updated: http://www.env.go.jp/en/earth/cc/2050_zero_carbon_cities_in_japan.html
26 The details of Gunma Prefecture's programme are available (in Japanese) at “Gunma Prefecture announces a 5-zeros by 2050 plan,” Gunma Prefecture, December 25, 2019: https://www.pref.gunma.jp/04/e01g_00147.html
27 The use of the term “2030 Agenda” derives from the fact that the UN's three landmark agreements – the SDGs, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction - all cover the 2015-2030 period. On the effort to enhance synergies among the three agreements, see Handmer, et al. “Achieving risk reduction across Sendai, Paris and the SDGs: International Science Council Policy Brief, May, 2019: https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ISC_Achieving-Risk-Reduction-Across-Sendai-Paris-and-the-SDGs_May-2019.pdf
28 On the Japanese Cabinet Office's strategic approach to using the SDGs, see (in Japanese) Seki Sachiko “Concerning the Promotion of Japanese-Style SDGs,” Governance, October, 2019.
29 The platform is described (in Japanese) at: http://future-city.jp/sdgs/
30 The categories are described in detail (in Japanese) at “SDGs Action Plan 2020,” Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, December 2019: https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/sdgs/dai8/actionplan2020.pdf
31 The Smart City platform's website (in Japanese) is here: https://www.mlit.go.jp/scpf/index.html
32 The central government's National Resilience plans for 2014-2019 are available (in Japanese) here: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/kihon.html
33 The National Resilience Plan and related materials are available (in Japanese) at the following internet URL: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/
34 The list of plans is available (in Japanese) at “Concerning other national plans in regard to national resilience,” Cabinet Office, March 25, 2019: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/resilience/dai47/siryo3-3.pdf
35 The membership, minutes and materials studied by the National Resilience (Disaster Prevention and Reduction) Deliberation Committee are available (in Japanese) at the following internet URL: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/resilience/
36 Links to Japan's subnational National Resilience plans are available (in Japanese) here: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/tiiki.html
37 The plans, budgets, committee data, and other relevant information are available via the Cabinet Secretariat's dedicated website: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/
38 On this, see “Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity,” World Bank, June 17, 2019: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2019/06/17/lifelines-the-resilient-infrastructure-opportunity
39 One example is Center for Strategic and International Studies Senior Vice-President Matthew P. Goodman in his “Parsing the Osaka G20 Communique,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 3, 2019: https://www.csis.org/analysis/parsing-osaka-g20-communiqué
40 The report can be accessed at the following URL: https://www.itrc.org.uk/infrastructure-underpinning-sustainable-development/
41 On this, see Fermin Koop, “Coronavirus hits crucial year for nature and climate,” China Dialogue, March 19, 2020: https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11915-Coronavirus-hits-crucial-year-for-nature-and-climate
42 See the first-ever “Global Health Security Index,” developed by the Economist, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The Index is the world's first, and in addition to getting the US wrong, lists Japan as 21st and Singapore as 24th. The Index is a very important initiative, but clearly needs silo-breaking revision of underlying assumptions and other factors. The Index is available at: https://www.ghsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Global-Health-Security-Index.pdf
43 The working group's membership and other details are (in Japanese) here: http://www.resilience-jp.biz/wg/wg24/
44 The handbook (in Japanese) was updated on March 15 and is here: http://www.hosp.tohoku-mpu.ac.jp/info/information/2326/
45 These are detailed (in Japanese) in “2020 Committee proposes 7 commitments,” Nikkei Medical, February 12, 2010: https://medical.nikkeibp.co.jp/leaf/mem/pub/report/t344/202002/564278.html
46 See Riyanti, Djalante, Rajib Shaw, and Andrew DeWit, “Building resilience against biological hazards and pandemics: COVID-19 and its implications for the Sendai Framework,” Progress in Disaster Science, Vol. 6 April, 2020: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259006172030017X
47 See “Emergency Risk Management for Health: Overview,” World Health Organization, May 2013: https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/preparedness/risk_management_overview_17may2013.pdf