This paper aims to clarify the concept of sustainable development in order to enhance more operational policy formation for sustainable development. Economic models of sustainable development are classified into three types, including the Daly model and the Dasgupta model. The idea of each model is derived from the extension of a part of the definition of sustainable development originally advocated by the Brundtland Commission. Features and unresolved issues of each of the three models are analyzed to encourage research on sustainable development.

This paper reviews my recent research on system design and policy perspectives of a resource circulating society, showing that the research is based upon three approaches; economic analysis, legal and institutional analysis, and data analysis. In the research, economic analysis is utilized to show, for example, how extended producer responsibility (EPR) can be justified from a theoretical viewpoint. It is also a powerful tool in demonstrating the relative nature of goods and bads of materials, which is the core of analysis of a resource circulating society. Institutional analysis is indispensable for explicating the relationship between the legal structure of recycling related laws and market performances. Most of the results obtained by the analyses used are reinforced by data analysis. For example, the law for recycling of end-of-life-vehicles (ELVs) in Japan is considered to adopt a physical responsibility type of EPR, which is justified by the above theory. Furthermore, the data analysis shows how free take-back of ELV shredder residues by manufacturers affects ELV body shell transactions.

Environmental policy integration (EPI) is a policy principle designed to achieve sustainable development. Its origin dates back to the early process of EU integration. It received worldwide recognition through the discussion relating to the concept of sustainable development proposed by the Brundtland Commission’s Report, “Our Common Future.” It was within the EU framework that this principle was stipulated in the Amsterdam Treaty adopted in 1997, and practical experience was accumulated in the member states. This paper reviews the development of the concept and practice of EPI, particularly in terms of discussion of its normative nature. The paper then reviews various policy measures adopted in OECD member states to promote EPI as well as “German Strategy for Sustainable Development” as a successful example of EPI. Based on the review, the paper then explores contemporary policy implications and future research agenda relating to EPI, particularly for Japan.

New policy for climate change mitigation after the Kyoto protocol is to be discussed at COP 15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. In preparation for this discussion, the Japanese government formed the Medium-term Target Committee to set the medium-term target for GHG reduction in Japan. Together with other research institutes, Japan Center for Econolmic Research (JCER) participated in the committee to analyze the economic impacts of alternative GHG reduction scenarios. In this paper, we attempt a detailed explanation of the JCER-CGE model and analyze the reduction scenarios considered by the Committee.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze key factors that brought about significant changes in the WTO environment negotiations, from various perspectives of international political theory. Under the Doha Development Agenda, the focus of the negotiations has shifted from the “trade measures for environmental purpose” to “trade liberalization of environmental goods and services.” Then, major states’ positions in the negotiations have become closer each other. Eventually, the EU and United States jointly made a proposal for liberalizing trade in climate-friendly goods and services. These significant changes in the negotiations are due to the conflicts in international institutions and/or in norms between the two different issues of free trade and the environment. This paper suggests that when two or more different issues are interrelated, international negotiations should seek to ease the conflict among different international institutions and/or to achieve a compatibility of norms among different issues.

This paper analyzes the effect of industrial waste taxes on final disposal or landfill using panel data. It also analyzes the effects of economic activities on final disposal. The main results are as follows. First, industrial waste taxes in Japan have so far produced hardly any significant reduction of final disposal. For taxation of the type enforced in Mie Prefecture and Shiga Prefecture, although results that exclude waste from outside the prefecture show a decrease in the amount of waste disposed of in landfills in the fiscal year prior to taxation, and in the second and third years after the introduction of taxation, after that the amount increased again. On the other hand, for results that include waste from outside the prefecture, not even the reduction at the beginning of taxation is observed. This implies that the announcement effect of taxation was not effective for generators of waste outside the prefecture although it was observed by generators inside the prefecture. For other types of taxation, the taxation did not significantly affect the amount of waste disposed of in landfills, regardless of whether waste from outside the prefecture is included or not. Second, while the output by agriculture and construction sectors is significantly positively correlated, the output by ceramic and quarrying sectors is significantly negatively correlated. This means that the amount of waste disposed of in landfills decreases as the output of ceramic industry and quarrying increases. This seems to be due to recycling in the process of making cement. Finally, this paper examines the reasons why industrial waste taxes in Japan have hardly produced any significant effects on the reduction of final disposal.

In many countries, firms are forced to maintain financial security in order to establish their financial responsibility for environmental risks. Almost all the papers on financial security have used models based on Shavell’s model for analyses of the judgment proof problem. This model is unique in showing the continuous change of firms’ care in relation to firms’ assets. Furthermore, some studies note that risk monitoring can lead firms to optimal care regardless of the expensive cost of risk monitoring. Using a different model from Shavell’s that shows the change of firms’ care having a discontinuity in firms’ assets, this article analyzes the environmental risk control function of obligatory financial security with fixed premium not depending on risk monitoring under imperfect information. The result shows that there is a chance that financial security can control environmental risks properly even if risk monitoring is not executed.