ECO test and our environment

 Today (April 20th) is still mid-April, but the temperature is over 25 degrees, making it feel like summer. The temperature feels like it’s rising every summer. Flowers, such as azaleas, which usually bloom in late April, have already begun to bloom. There is no doubt that the change in the environment has reached a level that can be felt.

It is often reported that we must respond to changes in the environment. There is no doubt that the daily life of an individual, especially energy conservation, is related to environmental conservation. People are being asked to conserve electricity by limiting the use of cars and setting room temperatures stricter.

So how well do we understand environmental issues? There is an easy way to become an environmental expert. Study the contents of the Environmental Certification Exam (Eco Certification) (Environmental Society Certification Exam, Seibido Publishing) sponsored by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Obtaining this qualification will give you the background to be active in environmental conservation activities that are necessary for corporate activities. At the same time, studying the questions in the ECO Certification Exam is also a very good way to accurately understand what environmental issues are. Let’s take a look at the questions and see how environmental issues are perceived.

   The questions range from basic to applied issues, and are presented in the following order:

1. What is the environment?

2. The history of the emergence of environmental issues.

3. The history of international cooperation on the environment.

4. Currently concluded international environmental conservation agreements.

5. Methods of environmental conservation.

6. Corporate activities and environmental conservation.

1. First of all, what is the definition of the environment? The environment is the state of our immediate surroundings. This includes things at the national level, as well as the international, global, and space environments. There are also things called environments, such as the biological environment inside the body that senses the environment, and purely chemical and physical environments such as air, water, and temperature, so the environments that we humans are involved in are extremely diverse and wide-ranging. However, what is important is that although humans did not originally exist on Earth and evolved from apes about 7 million years ago, we are now not just a part of the creatures on Earth, but have become an existence that influences the Earth’s environment and may even destroy it. This rapid population increase has only occurred in the last 150 years or so since the Industrial Revolution.

2. The environment is everything around us, but everything has problems. In particular, the environment is constantly changing, from the local level within the country to across countries, and there are problems there. Yellow sand, a representative of PM2.5, is brought from China and causes health problems. Cold north winds also come from China and North Korea, but they cause problems such as snowfall. More specifically, looking at history, there are water pollution caused by corporate activities, as exemplified by Minamata disease, and the outbreak of asthma due to air pollution when the number of automobiles increased rapidly. In order to get to the root of the problem, extensive research is necessary.

3. These environmental change problems are accompanied by population growth and are global issues that go beyond national borders. In the 1970s and 1980s, a time of economic recovery and development after World War II, similar environmental problems occurred frequently around the world, and agreements to deal with them began, mainly in developed countries. However, after that, there was dissatisfaction in developing countries that it was not fair to apply similar environmental conservation regulations to developed countries, and in 2015, with a greater awareness of fairness, the direction was changed to an agreement based on differences in the industrial structure of each country. In that sense, the SDGs proposed in 2015 are the minimum standard for environmental conservation that should be pursued across generations and countries. This includes human rights and the environment.

4 and 5. In order to aim for environmental conservation, it is necessary to quantify the environmental issues of interest. Global warming has become a problem, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 with the goal of restoring the global average temperature to the pre-industrial revolution level by 2030. Each country has agreed to set its own emission amount for greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide), which are considered to be the cause of the temperature rise. This is an example of the best data-based agreement on environmental issues. Indicators of water pollution in oceans and rivers have already been set as targets based on BOD and COD values.

*International agreement in terms of climate change.

*International organization to discuss about the climate change.

6. Conserving the environment on earth ultimately involves the efforts of all individuals, but business activities play a large role. In that sense, the United Nations is calling on companies around the world to conduct business based on ESG (Environment, Society, Government). It is a wish that they be conscious of environmental conservation and conduct corporate governance that aims to contribute to society. Companies that are conscious of this are now recognized as having high investment value. Furthermore, business models aiming for environmental conservation are appearing at the global level. Collectively, they are called environmental business. Improvement of environmental issues requires investment and knowledge, and collaboration between the private sector and local governments is necessary, and this has become a business. The regional revitalization initiative being promoted by the Pasona Group is also a new business model.

  The ECO test questions take into account all six of the above elements, so it seems difficult to pass unless you take it seriously.