Japan sets new 2035 emissions cut goal

TOKYO, Feb 18 – Japan on Tuesday pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in the next decade from 2013 levels, but climate campaigners said the revised target fell short of what is required under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

Under the Paris Agreement, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure to the United Nations for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, along with a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this.

However, activists argue that more ambitious action is needed to limit global warming to safer levels, as agreed under the Paris deal.

Japan’s Ministry of the Environment said it aims to reduce emissions by 60 percent by the 2035 fiscal year.

The world’s fourth-largest economy also aims to cut emissions by 73 percent by fiscal 2040 as part of its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) — a voluntary pledge to be submitted to the UN later on Tuesday.

Japan is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and is the world’s fifth-largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide, after China, the United States, India, and Russia.

Nearly 200 nations were required to deliver their updated climate plans by February 10, but only 10 countries did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions.

The Japanese Ministry said on Tuesday that its “ambitious targets are aligned with the global 1.5-degree Celsius goal and on a straight pathway towards the achievement of net zero by 2050.”

But Masayoshi Iyoda, from the international environmental group 350.org, pointed out that scientists say Japan needs an emissions cut of 81 percent by 2035 to honor its commitments to the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

“This is a major failure in Japan’s attempt to transition to a future of renewable energy that is fair and just,” he told AFP.

Kazue Suzuki of Greenpeace Japan also called the new 2030 target “far too low,” urging a 78 percent reduction “from the perspective of our responsibility as an industrially advanced country.”

Renewable Future?

In 2016, Japan committed to a 26 percent reduction in emissions by 2030. It strengthened this target in 2021 to 46 percent by 2030 compared to 2013 levels.

On Tuesday, the Japanese government also approved its latest Strategic Energy Plan, which includes the intention to make renewables the country’s primary power source by 2040.

Nearly 14 years after the Fukushima disaster, Japan also sees a significant role for nuclear power in helping meet growing energy demand from AI and microchip factories.

Thus, a previous pledge to “reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible” was dropped from the new plan.

A draft energy plan released in December had stated that Japan would jointly promote renewable energy and hydrogen fuel with its ally, the United States.

However, after President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the Paris accord last month, the wording was softened, and references to a U.S.-led clean economy framework were deleted from the approved version released on Tuesday.

“We’ve made certain tweaks following Trump’s announcements,” an industry ministry official told reporters on Monday.

However, “it doesn’t mean Japan’s broader efforts towards a ‘green transformation’ will change significantly,” he said.

In 2023, nearly 70 percent of Japan’s power needs were met by power plants burning coal, gas, and oil — a figure Tokyo aims to reduce to 30-40 percent over the next 15 years.

Almost all these fossil fuels must be imported, at a cost of around $470 million per day, according to Japanese customs.

Under the new plans, renewables such as solar and wind are expected to account for 40-50 percent of electricity generation by 2040.

RSS / AFP