Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would pledge a 26% cut in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of a global summit on climate change this year. Abe also promised to take a “leading role” in the international drive to reduce pollutants blamed for global warming.
The plan “reflects the Abe administration’s goals of lowering reliance on nuclear power as much as possible, with efforts in energy saving and the introduction of renewable energy to the maximum extent possible,” he said.
The pledge, which uses 2013 as the base year, has been dubbed unambitious by environmental groups since it was first proposed in early May. Tokyo-based campaigning group Kiko Network has pointed out that 26 per cent cut from 2013 works out at just 17 per cent cut from 1990 levels.
At the core of the deal would be a roster of national pledges for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – the invisible pollution from fossil fuels that drives climate-damaging temperature rise.
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So far, only 38 parties have put their carbon pledges on the table, according to the website of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Among the major emitters, submissions have been made by the United States, the number two emitter, the number three emitter the European Union, and Russia, ranked fifth, but not by Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, or China, the world’s No.1 emitter.
“After soliciting public comments, we will formally submit the plan in mid- to late-July to the United Nations,” said Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary.
In order to achieve the proposed emissions cut, Japan will also ramp up its reliance on renewables such as solar and wind power, which, under the energy mix proposal would account for 22-24 per cent of Japan’s whole electricity demand in 2030, double the current portion.
If sources of renewable energy in Japan are fully utilised, “renewables can produce more than 100 per cent of Japan’s energy needs” in the future, said Yasuyo Yamazaki, President of investment fund Kuni Umi Asset Management which finances renewable energy plants…….
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Photo: AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno