[Grandpa Saw It!] Part 1: I watched the 154th meeting of the Global Environment Subcommittee of the Central Environment Council!

I am Grandpa, a supporter of Generation Z and future generations.

Well, this time I have taken up the Global Environment Subcommittee. This expert meeting is a historic one that has already reached its 154th session.

The reason I focused on this 154th meeting held on December 15, 2025, is that it was the first Global Environment Subcommittee meeting held after COP30, and because Mr. Trump announced the United States' withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In the second part of the post mentioned above, Grandpa wrote something like this.

Just as I was thinking that, Mr. Trump's announcement of withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change occurred, and I found that the top priority agenda item for the Global Environment Subcommittee was 'Regarding the further promotion of adaptation efforts', so I decided to cover it in the Grandpa Saw It! series.

Let's check it out in the first and second parts, focusing on materials related to adaptation.

1️⃣ Let's check the committee members!

First, let's check the names of the members of the Global Environment Subcommittee.
Regarding climate change issues, there are names of people who are rather famous as proponents of mitigation (Professor Takamura, Professor Emori, Ms. Yoshitaka, etc.), and until now, 'mitigation' should have been the main character. It is truly a happy thing that the spotlight has been shone on 'adaptation,' which had been in the shadows.

I think the video will be deleted when the minutes are released, but you can watch the meeting until the minutes are released, so I will paste the URL in the underlined section.

2️⃣ Why is adaptation important?

Grandpa has consistently argued that the reason Japan, which has had no growth for 30 years, has been unable to catch up with the US's 'open society based on standardization, overall optimization, and work-style reform' (which was perfectly compatible with IT), is that it has dragged the success stories of the first 40 years of the 80 years since the war—a 'village society based on the three sacred treasures of personalization, individual optimization, and long working hours'—into the latter 40 years, leading to a large growth gap.

Because the administrative system (local government) suitable for this village society 'Japan' was oriented toward individual optimization without a command center, I feel that the fact that a culture where many stakeholders 'cooperate with each other' by jumping over the village for overall optimization could not be achieved even after 80 years since the war is a major problem.

This is also a quite fatal problem in adaptation.

Adaptation is preparing for or reducing the damage from the effects of climate change that are already occurring or are unavoidable, in other words, adjusting our lives and social systems to match the changing climate.

For example, these things:
・Raising levees in preparation for sea-level rise
・Urban design that responds to extreme heat (expansion of green spaces, heat island countermeasures)
・Strengthening drainage infrastructure in preparation for heavy rain
・Developing medical systems in preparation for the spread of infectious diseases
・Development and introduction of drought-resistant crops

Committee Member Otsuka points out the problems of adaptation with an easy-to-understand example.
It is an example that it is difficult to think about overall optimization, especially in agriculture.

For example, in tea-producing regions, there is a future where variety improvement adapted to climate change will be necessary. In the Kansai region, Shiga, Kyoto, and Nara should be able to exchange information and think about adaptation measures together, butthey view each other as rivals, and there is a problem where they don't even exchange information, let alone cooperate to think about adaptationthat lies in the way.

I have set the URL to the part where Committee Member Otsuka speaks. 👇 Please listen for 1-2 minutes. He explains well the difficulty of promoting "adaptation" in Japanese society.

Even when trying to promote adaptation measures in other fields,each local government needs a "budget"for everything. That is why there is a common issue where everyone agrees in principle, but it is difficult to move forward with specific details.

3️⃣ Climate Change Adaptation Act

In accordance with the Climate Change Adaptation Actenacted in 2018,a "Climate Change Adaptation Plan"is being formulated.

As excerpted above, in accordance with the law and following the 3rd Climate Change Impact Assessment Report,there are plans to revise the Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Taking actions to protect vested interests and keep the status quo, or

taking actions to face reform, are all done through legal measures. I feel the importance of the Diet all over again.

That Diet is expected to be dissolved at the beginning of the ordinary session for a general election. If the large scale of the supplementary budget was intended to ensure that there would be no problems even if the passage of the FY2026 budget within the fiscal year became difficult and budget execution was slightly delayed, then Ms. Takaichi is also a strategist. Like Mr. Abe, she might be a Prime Minister who is strong in elections and can read the wind. Furthermore, a surprise dissolution that no critic predicted—what will happen...

I will end Part 1 with the background explanation, and let's check the specific details in Part 2.

Read the rest

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