Japan tightens up on climate targets

Japan’s next Prime Minister considers a new carbon tax and a domestic emissions trading market to reach a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gasses. COP15 host Connie Hedegaard congratulates Japan on its "strong leadershipThe Japanese Prime Minister in waiting, Yukio Hatoyama, declared today that he will aim for a 25 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The target is a huge step forward compared to his predecessor’s. In June, outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso unveiled an eight percent reduction during the same time frame.




”It is one of our pledges stipulated in our (election) manifesto so we need the political will to aim at its realization by utilizing all policy tools,” Hatoyama said in a speech today during the Asahi World Environment Forum in Tokyo, according to Japan Today.



He added that Japan would ”aim to establish a fair and effective international framework involving all major countries in the world”, indicating an intention to strongly urge other countries to set ”ambitious goals” in cutting emissions.



According to Reuters, his Democratic Party considers a new carbon tax. It also plans to create a domestic emissions trading market and introduce a ”feed-in” tariff for renewable energy to help expand capacity for clean energy sources.



Denmark’s Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who hosts December’s UN climate conference in Copenhagen (COP15), congratulates Japan on its ”strong leadership”:



”For a long time, everybody has been waiting for everybody in the international [climate] negotiations. Now Japan has taken a big step forward by setting an ambitious target, and I hope it will inspire other countries to follow,” she says in a statement.



The environmental group WWF also welcomes the ”courage” of the Japanese Prime-Minister-elect.



“Japan used to be the country driven by industry groups, but now we see a new Prime Minister with true leadership”, says Takamasa Higuchi, CEO of WWF Japan.



Kim Carstensen, the leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative, says “the decision by an important player such as Japan to do more and get serious about low carbon future can help break the deadlock between developed and developing countries”.



“The climate negotiations are at a critical point and we need urgent progress to get a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Copenhagen this December.”