本書は，2009年に出版し大好評の『持続可能な低炭素社会』の英訳本である。
北海道大学では，2008年に洞爺湖サミットが開催された折，その前後4週間をサステナビリティウィークスと定めて各種のイベントを開催し，研究成果を広く一般に発信した。その一環として大学院共通講義・市民公開講座として「持続可能な低炭素社会」を開講した。『持続可能な低炭素社会』は，この講義内容を取りまとめたものである。内容は，環境劣化・地球温暖化といった基本的な環境変化のメカニズムから始まり，続いて環境経済学や国際環境法といった立場から低炭素社会の実現に向けての制度論を展開し，最後に低炭素社会の実現に向けての新たな技術開発の現状と，近い将来，世界最大の炭酸ガス排出国となるであろう中国の取組について述べたものである。国，地方そして個人それぞれのレベルで低炭素社会の実現を考える指標を与えるものとなっている。
　このように広範な内容を有する『持続可能な低炭素社会』の英訳本は，人類共同の事業として取り組むべき低炭素社会づくりについて，アジア諸国を始めとする世界各国に極めて有益な情報を提供するものとなっている。
　
Preface

Fifty years have passed since humanity first viewed their beautiful planet, called the ﾒwater planet,ﾓ for the first time from space. But our supposedly beautiful Earth suffers deterioration of the global environment owing to human activities such as food shortages due to human population growth, worsening water and air pollution due to rapid industrialization, and an energy crisis brought on by the heavy consumption of fossil fuels and other energy.
Especially the CO 2 generated by the expanding use of fossil fuels impacts heavily on the global environment in the form of global warming, and also hinders the sustainable development of humanity. We developed countries have a big responsibility because of our mass consumption of fossil fuels.
In 2006 Hokkaido University created the Hokkaido University Initiative for Sustainable Development, and since then has aggressively pursued education and research aimed at attaining sustainability for humanity. About the time when the G8 Toyako Summit was held in July 2008 at Lake Toya in Hokkaido, Hokkaido University designated the four weeks surrounding the summit as Sustainability Weeks, during which the university held about 40 events including international symposia and fora on sustainability, and public lectures for the general public. As part of this effort, we instituted a graduate school common course called ﾒSustainable Low-Carbon Societyﾓ and held dialog-type lectures that also involved the general public. This book brings together the material from those lectures. The lectures started with the basic mechanisms of environmental changes such as environmental deterioration and global warming, proceeded to institutional theory meant for low-carbon societies from the standpoint of environmental economics and international environmental law, then finally discussed the current state and near future of new technology development for achieving a low-carbon society, and the initiatives of China, which will likely become the world’s biggest CO 2 emitter. This provided indicators for considering the realization of a low-carbon society on the levels of countries, localities, and individuals. It is our hope that this book, which was written by Japan’s representative researchers, will not only be read by many, but will also heighten low-carbon society awareness in Japan and hasten the transition.

Hiroshi Saeki, President
Hokkaido University
January 13, 2009