I once asked a Japanese environment minister how she thought Japan could meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Her answer – rather long and rambling, as I recall – involved something called a furoshiki, a traditional Japanese cloth and symbol of Japan’s abhorrence of waste, used to carry shopping home in lieu of a plastic bag.

This was quite a big claim for a little piece of material, no matter how recyclable or exquisitely decorated. Under Kyoto, Japan has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 6 per cent from 1990 levels. But current emissions are running 8 per cent above that mark. Short of ramming furoshiki down the smoke stacks of the biggest industrial polluters, it is hard to see its adoption making much of a dent in Japanese emissions.