Uk Envoy Urges Japan To Raise Co2 Reduction Target
Britain has urged Japan to raise its reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a UN climate change conference later this year.
All members of the Paris Agreement are required to submit their new reduction targets to the United Nations by the end of this month.
The agreement aims to cut global emissions as quickly as possible and cut them to virtually zero by 2050 or later.
Japan has yet to make it clear whether to raise its target of cutting the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent from fiscal 2013 levels by fiscal 2030.
John Murton, British envoy to the UN climate change conference COP26 to be held in Britain in November, spoke to NHK in Tokyo on Monday.
Murton noted that Britain has achieved both emissions reductions and economic growth by concentrating investments into renewable energy sources.
He stressed that Japan has to invest in renewables in order to make sure that its industry has access to cheap electricity.
The envoy also commented on Japan's policy to help other countries build coal-fired thermal power plants.
He said that "helping the economies of Southeast Asia get addicted to coal is not necessarily a productive step in the fight against climate change."
