Japan’s Next Leader Promises Climate Action

Japan’s Prime-Minister-Elect Yukio Hatoyama plans tough action on climate change when he takes office. He has promised to reduce emissions, aiming for a 25% reduction on 1990 levels by 2020.

Hatoyama is due to take office on September 16th after his party, the Democratic Party of Japan, won a major victory in the elections in August. The outgoing commanding government, the Liberal Democratic Party, have governed for all but 11 months since 1955.

The announcement will surely have more positive impact on the region, as the previous leader Taro Aso pledged cuts of only 8%. Japan will present its new target at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.

The move has met mixed reactions, as business groups and some car manufacturers are expected to campaign against such action on climate change. No surprise there then. Analysts say Mr Hatoyama’s announcement on Monday at a climate change symposium in Tokyo is more ambitious than many other developed countries. How is that a bad thing?

There was praise from the climate change chief of the UN, who has called for a 25-40% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. “With such a target, Japan will take on the leadership role that industrialised countries have agreed to take in climate change abatement” claims Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.

It is a fair yet ambitions target for Japan, which has the second largest economy in the world, and has the 5th largest emitter of CO2, a greenhouse gas that is causing climate change.

“As a mid-term goal, we aim at a 25% reduction by 2020 from 1990, based on the levels demanded by science to stop global warming. We think developing countries are also required to make an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, as a global effort is needed on the issue of climate change” Claims Mr Hatoyama

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