Suga said he agreed with US President Joe Biden at their meeting on Friday in Washington that the two countries will lead global decarbonization efforts, such as through the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, clean energy technologies, or transferring technologies to developing countries . (File photo by= Kyodo) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] The Japanese government faces growing pressure to set an ambitious fiscal 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, with business and environmental groups demanding a doubling of renewables' contribution to the country's energy mix up to between 40 and 50 percent , according to the Kyodo report.
In addressing the topic, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government is set to release a new carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions target for fiscal 2030 which he promised would be more ambitious than the current 26 percent reduction compared to the fiscal 2013 level. The series of discussions on Japan's future energy plans come as Tokyo faces the need to make up ground on other developed nations which have already committed to larger greenhouse gas emission cuts. Suga pledged last October to make the country carbon emission neutral by 2050.
But Japan generated more than 75 percent of its energy from coal-fired power plants and thermal power generation using liquefied natural gas in the fiscal year ending March 2020, making the task of transitioning away from fossil fuels a difficult one. Around a dozen coal-fired plants are being constructed or are waiting to be built in Japan, according to the environmental group Japan Beyond Coal.