Japan's business sector facing up to climate threat

Encouraging signs have emerged that Japan's business community is changing its posture toward the global challenge of stemming harmful climate change.

The business community is finally displaying a willingness to discuss whether Japan should introduce a program for trading in permits to emit the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Until now, there has been strong opposition to this idea among Japanese companies.

Such a program would allocate tradable emission permits or allowances - the right to emit a specific amount of greenhouse gasses - to companies or other groups, allowing them to buy or sell such allowances, depending on whether they have a shortage or a surplus.