1988 Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages 115-125
Environmental quality in terms of SOx in the atmosphere has been drastically improved in Japan since 1970s. The emission reduction achieved in the 1970s can be attributed to the strict regulation enforced by the central and local governments. The reduction in the 1980s, however, was realized under an economic and energy condition very different from that in the 1970s. While the Japanese economy underwent drastic structural changes in favor of energy saving, a pollutant load levy system was inaugurated in 1974 based on the Pollution-Victims Compensation Law, and the ever increasing rate of levies imposed on emission sources created an economic incentives to reduce emisson level beyond the regulatory standards. The incentive effect was particularly significant in the regions designated by the law, as is discussed in this paper. An economic model is presented to estimate the emission reduction owing to the decreasing demand of heavy oil and the increasing rate of pollutant load levy imposed on emission sources of sulfur oxides. Basic mechanisms of the emission reduction achieved in the 1980s are explained by this model through comparison of the designated and the non-designated regions.
