Pristine water from snow melt and streams, blissful air blown from the north, mineral-rich soil—these are among the core constituents of Niseko’s harvests. But the most important for many readers of this magazine—powder snow.
With Niseko’s key economic drivers – tourism and agriculture – so heavily reliant on the environment, it has been chosen as one of 40 eco-model cities in Japan.
“Niseko’s industry and commerce are reliant on the natural environment we are blessed with,” Niseko Town Mayor Kenya Katayama says. “That is why it is essential we make long-term considerations for the environment.”
In 2015 Niseko Town set a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an ambitious 86 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050.
To put this into perspective in relation to the rest of Japan, in 2015 the national government set a target of a 26 per cent reduction of 2013 levels by 2030. The Eco Model City Action Plan Phase 2 was enacted in 2019 and is in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The town’s strategy focuses on driving sustainable living practices in households and on the implementation of “green schemes” in the community and for the tourism industry.
With Niseko Town’s Chomin Centre community building – built in 1975 and in need of renovation in 2011 – it was an ideal opportunity to test out the efficacy of geothermal energy and other insulation techniques in reducing year-round energy consumption. Immediately following the project, energy costs dropped by about 50 per cent, and the number of people using the building increased by 60 per cent the following year, largely due to cooling in the summer time.
Learnings from the Chomin Centre project have informed plans for the new Niseko Town Hall which is currently under construction. Despite being more than double the size of the current buildings, the yearly energy bill is expected to be only ¥2 million (approx US$18,000). The town also has plans for a sustainable village development – the Niseko Lifestyle Model Zone – which will bring together multi-purpose residential, commercial, public transport and other modern urban development ideas into one 9ha site in the centre of the town. Phase 1 is scheduled for completion in Japanese fiscal year 2023.
The next big challenge facing Niseko Town’s environmental quest is tourism – 40 per cent of C02 emissions are generated by the tourism industry, which is growing rapidly. In order to attract tourists to Niseko as a nature resort in the long-run, as well as the sustainability of Niseko Town as a whole, the town is currently planning the implementation of a tourism bed tax, the revenue from which would go towards managing the environmental impact of tourism on the town.
