This study first clarifies the structural problems of Japan's asbestos health damage relief system, and reasons for implementing improvement, and then it discusses the necessary compensation system from the asbestos victim's point of view. The current health damage relief system provides financially poor support compared to other relief systems, lacking both financial support and long-term health care for the victim's family, and having no health care system to reduce physical pains or psychological stresses of victims themselves. A reform plan is necessary, so this study proposes a plan to reduce such burdens by focusing on a comprehensive asbestos health damage compensation system.

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The mitigation of climate change is thought by many to be a significant environmental concern. In order to mitigate the bulk of carbon emissions from the electricity sector, large market penetration of renewable energy technologies is a key research issue. The goal of the paper is to address the timing of public R&D investment for renewable technologies in the Japanese electricity sector. The model is cast as a dynamic bottom-up energy-system model and numerically optimized, minimizing a total system cost subject to an accumulated carbon emission constraint. Autonomous energy-efficiency improvement and two-factor learning curves describe the technological development process for each energy technology. With the two-factor learning curve, the model shows that the cost of electricity of renewable technologies can be reduced by up to 43% in the year 2100 if there is no constraint on public R&D budget. Renewable energy sources requires substantial R&D support in their initial phase of development; however, the investment pattern would switch to a path of reducing the amount after 2050. The budget of R&D investment is strictly limited; thus, an important policy objective is to design a dynamic investment schedule that will induce sustainable innovations for green technologies.

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Germany reformed its feed-in tariff system in 2014. This reform was based on adjusting the tariffs for each type of renewable energy according to necessity and timing, the importance of fair burden sharing and international competitiveness, the acceptance by citizens of grid construction, the adjustment of power for renewable energy and fair burden sharing. Japan As a latecomer, Japan has much to learn from Germany’s lessons. The framework of Germany's feed-in tariff system itself did not change, but the price is reduced and the direct transaction and market premiums are larger. Also an auctioning system is to be introduced.

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In discussing a new intentional framework on climate policy for the post-Kyoto period, the European Commission and other organizations consider the possibility of linking domestic emissions trading schemes (ETS). There are a number of potential reasons to promote such linking. First, it can increase the efficiency of ETS by equalizing marginal abatement cost across countries. Second, it can mitigate the burden which energy-intensive sectors would face under a domestic ETS. By focusing on these two aspects, this paper discusses the prospects for ETS linking and considers economic analyses thereof. First, the paper introduces types of linking. Second, it surveys the literature describing quantitative examination of the economic impacts of direct and indirect linking of ETS. Then, it introduces recent developments on new mechanisms which can promote indirect linking of ETS. These new developments include the Joint Crediting Mechanism, sectoral crediting mechanisms and REDD plus. Finally, I conclude the paper by discussing the future direction of research on linking.

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As a consequence of the shift of corporate behavior toward proactive environmental management since the late 1990s, a new structure has emerged for the relationship between environmental policy and corporate environmental performance. Changes in consumer behavior and markets become important factors mediating the relationship. Amid the transition to a new era of corporate environmental management, the paper argues that a signal of sufficient changes in consumer behavior and markets would propel firms to shift toward proactive environmental management, and thus new attention should be given to the mediating effects of consumer behavior and markets in policy formulations for corporate environmental performance.

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