Japan is rewarding people who reduce their climate impact through everyday decisions such as participating in ride shares, buying energy-saving home appliances or declining single-use plastics.
The initiative is part of a wide-ranging government program to support dozens of retailers such as e-commerce giant Rakuten Group Inc and shopping mall operator Aeon Mall Co, which are expanding loyalty point schemes to incentivize customers to make greener buying decisions. People can use those earned credits toward online purchases, airline mileage points or even, in some cases, investments.
“We hope to encourage people to make positive and proactive behavioral changes,” Japanese Minister of the Environment Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi said at the program launch on Tuesday.
Photo: Bloomberg
It is the latest effort by Japan to signal to consumers that their lifestyles need to be adapted in the fight against climate change.
Tokyo officials last month urged residents to watch an hour less of TV per day and to refrain from using heater functions on toilet seats until winter in an effort to reduce electricity demand.
The program also extends to reward schemes managed by local municipalities and nonprofits.
Sakai City is to use an app to help people track when they decline plastic cutlery, use ride-sharing schemes or opt to have dry-cleaned clothes folded to avoid the use of single-use hangers.
Loyalty programs, which grant people credit for future purchases, are extremely popular in Japan.
In a survey taken by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, 85 percent of respondents said they most wanted a point-reward system in supermarkets and more than 60 percent said they would be inclined to try more environmentally friendly action that they do not usually take if there were incentives.
Japan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from households, which account for 60 percent of its life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions.
Semiconductor stocks on Friday took a beating after a grim profit warning from Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc sparked fresh worries about the US’ earnings power as the country is potentially heading for a recession. Despite a broader stock market rally, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index dropped 3.8 percent after Micron, the largest maker of memory semiconductors in the US, flagged that demand was cooling for chips used in computers and smartphones. The index — which is home to US chip giants Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp, as well as Micron — is down 38 percent this year. Historically, semiconductor
WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY: Costco Wholesale said it expected the purchase of the remaining 45 percent stake to add 1 to 1.5 percent to its earnings per share US-based Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday said that it had purchased the remaining 45 percent stake in Costco President Taiwan Inc (台灣好市多) for US$1.05 billion, making the local company a fully-owned unit. “We estimate that the purchase would add about 1 to 1.5 percent to [our] earnings per share,” Costco said in a statement. Costco President Taiwan was established as a joint venture with Kaohsiung-based President Group (大統集團), which held a 45 percent stake. Since the first Costco store opened in Kaohsiung in 1997, 14 outlets have been set up in Taiwan, company data showed. PROFITABLE Three Costco stores in Taiwan — in Taipei’s Neihu
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS: Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its ecosystem through the platform, the Taiwanese firm said India’s Tata Technologies Ltd has become the latest member of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) MIH Open Platform to jointly develop sustainable mobility solutions for customers worldwide, the Taiwanese company said yesterday. It might include embedded and electrical, electric platform development and battery management system solutions, among others, Hon Hai said. Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its electric-vehicle (EV) ecosystem through the MIH platform, it said. The open platform has about 2,380 members around the world, with an aim to jointly develop EV ecosystems and shrink the time to market for products. Hon Hai made the
SOARING PROFITS: Semiconductors and shipping have knocked automaking and construction out of the 10 highest paying industries, stock exchange data showed Mobile phone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) posted an average of NT$5.15 million (US$173,249) in annual compensation for non-managerial employees last year, marking the highest among all firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), exchange data showed. That is a 66 percent increase from the company’s average compensation of NT$3.08 million in 2020, as its earnings per share (EPS) expanded from NT$26.01 in 2020 to NT$70.56 last year. That is also three times higher than the average compensation of NT$1.7 million in the nation’s semiconductor industry, the data showed. The increases helped MediaTek advance its ranking from third in 2020, replacing