Although initially this idea was not realized, it was reported in the national edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbum (Japan Economic News) and was discussed across the nation (Kobayashi, 2008b). Following that effort, Shimokawa continued to consider ways of adding social and economic value to the volume of C02 captured by the forest, and the four towns of Ashoro, Shimokawa, Takinoue and Bihoro established the Association for the Promotion of Carbon Capture by Forest Biomass. The purpose of this Association was to stimulate the local community through the exploitation of C02 capture, to enhance the potential of the locally available resource of forest biomass and to construct systems for effective C02 reduction by switching from fossil fuels (Shimokawa Town Office, 2009).