Environmental support, energy security and economic growth in Japan

This study investigates the resource consumption of Japanese society since 1979 and its subsequent effects on the economic output of the nation and the environment. In order to quantify resource appropriation and trends in production and consumption, the concept of emergy synthesis is employed. Our results show a significant increase in the total amount of emergy consumed by 66.9% between 1979 and 2003 which comes hand in hand with an increase in the level of environmental stress by 93.7% (quantified as the environmental loading ratio). On the other hand the emergy required to produce 1 USD of economic output has been gradually decreasing which denotes an increase in the efficiency of the conversion of natural capital into economic output. What is most interesting though is the growing dependence of the Japanese economy on imported emergy, increasingly from developing nations, that severely affects the potential for unhindered economic growth. This can prove to be a big barrier that could affect the resource security of the Japanese economy and render it susceptible to risks associated with access to natural resources which in turn can jeopardise its long-term economic sustainability. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved