TOKYO: The Tokyo metropolitan government is working with the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during the quadrennial sporting events to zero on paper.

For the project, the metro government is calling on businesses to donate reductions in CO2 emissions they have achieved through energy-saving efforts so that the actual emissions amounts during the 2020 Games are canceled out by the contributions.

Such donations have reached about 70 percent of the target amount.

According to the metro government and the organizing committee, their aim is to reduce CO2 emissions by 3.65 million tons--about 720,000 tons in overall emissions in the Japanese capital during the four days of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and some 2.93 million tons in emissions generated by the staging of the 2020 Games.

The metro government is urging the operators of large-scale business facilities in Tokyo to donate CO2 emissions reductions they achieved in fiscal 2010-2014.

In fiscal 2010, the government started a system under which about 1,200 businesses in Tokyo committed themselves to specific reduction amounts for CO2 emissions. Businesses that clear their commitments through such measures as using light-emitting diodes and insulated glasses can sell the excess reduction amounts to other companies.

On July 24, 2018, two years before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, the metro government started soliciting contributions of reduced CO2 emissions from businesses. It has collected about 2.56 million tons from 59 companies, including major real estate companies and financial institutions.

In December 2019, the government gave certificates of gratitude to 38 businesses that each donated 10,000 tons or more.

"The trend of decarbonization is likely to gather pace globally," Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at the certification ceremony. "With you, we will step up efforts to reduce CO2 emissions."

The metro government will accept donations until the end of September this year.

"Many businesses made donations from the viewpoints of corporate social responsibility and publicity benefits both at home and abroad," an official of the Tokyo government's Environment Bureau said. "Donations can be made in a minimum unit of one ton. We hope to achieve the (reduction) target by accumulating small-lot contributions."

The metro government plans to hold more seminars for businesses to seek donations, officials said.

JIJI Press