Japan's Suga Vows 46 Pct Emissions Cut in FY 2030

Tokyo, April 22 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday unveiled a plan to slash the country's greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal 2030 by 46 pct from the fiscal 2013 level, far higher than its current target of a 26 pct reduction. In a speech at an online climate summit hosted by the United States, Suga also said, "Japan will continue strenuous efforts in its challenge to meet the lofty goal of cutting its emissions by 50 pct." Slashing emissions by 46 pct "will certainly not be an easy task," Suga said. But he added, "By defining a top-level ambitious target befitting to a next growth strategy of the nation, which underpins manufacturing in the world, Japan is ready to demonstrate its leadership for worldwide decarbonization." To attain the target, the Suga government plans to take policies such as fully utilizing renewable and other clean energy sources, launching measures for spurring investment to help speed up decarbonization and supporting efforts being made around the country to tackle global warming. The Japanese government adopted the 26 pct emissions cut target in 2015. In spring last year, the government looked at the possibility of raising the target, but stopped short of doing this. After the Suga cabinet was launched in September, the prime minister announced in October a goal of reducing domestic emissions effectively to zero by 2050. In a policy address in the Diet, the country's parliament, in January this year, Suga stressed that his administration will come up with an ambitious emissions cut target for 2030 before the 26th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, dubbed COP26, in Britain in November 2021 to help promote global decarbonization. Following the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who is keen to tackle climate change, the Suga government accelerated work to map out the new target earlier than planned. In a joint statement released after their summit in Washington earlier this month, Suga and Biden pledged to take "decisive climate action by 2030." The Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry initially planned to set a new emissions cut goal for Japan after setting a target share of renewable energy in the country's overall electricity generation for fiscal 2030 under the government's next basic energy policy. But Suga decided the 46 pct reduction goal given that European countries and the United State are boosting their efforts in dealing with climate change. As the new goal was announced with no detailed work to collect data to back it up, however, the government may face difficulties in future coordination, pundits said. END