Tokyo: Japan will achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared on Monday in his first policy speech as leader, outlining an ambitious agenda as the country struggles to balance economic and pandemic concerns.
The policy speech at the outset of the parliamentary session reflects Suga's pragmatic approach to getting things done.
Suga, formerly chief cabinet secretary, took office on September 16 after his boss Shinzo Abe resigned over health problems.
Suga just returned from a trip last week to Vietnam and Indonesia, where he pushed ahead with Abe's efforts to build closer ties and promote a regional vision for countering growing Chinese influence.
Now out of Abe's shadow, back home Suga has been pumping out consumer-friendly policies. He has earned a reputation as a cost-cutter.
He said he intends to make a sustainable economy a pillar of his growth strategy and put maximum effort into achieving a green society.
That includes creating a carbon-free society by 2050.
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The European Union and Britain have already set similar targets for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, and China recently announced it would become carbon-free by 2060.
Japan previously targeted an 80 per cent reduction by 2050.
Suga portrayed the need to shift away from fossil fuels to counter climate change as an opportunity rather than a burden.
Global warming measures are no longer obstacles for economic growth, but would lead to industrial and socio-economic reforms and major growth," he said. We need to change our mindset.
But it is unclear how resource-scarce Japan might attain the goal of weaning itself from polluting fossil fuels.
The country's current energy plan, set in 2018, calls for 22-24 per cent of Japan's energy to come from renewables, 20-22 per cent from nuclear power and 56 per cent from fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas.
Progress toward reducing reliance on fossil fuels has been hindered due to the prolonged closures of most of Japan's nuclear plants after the meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the northeastern Tohoku region.
Energy experts are now discussing revisions to Japan's basic energy plan for 2030 and 2050.
The 2050 emissions-free target would require drastic changes and likely prompt calls for more nuclear plant restarts.
About 40 per cent of Japan's carbon emissions come from power companies, and they must use more renewable sources of energy while stepping up development of technologies using hydrogen, ammonia and other carbon-free resources, experts say.
Suga said he will speed up research and development on key technologies such as next-generation solar batteries and carbon recycling.
He also promised to fundamentally change Japan's long-term reliance on coal-fired energy" by promoting conservation and maximising renewables, while maintaining nuclear energy.
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In the immediate term, measures to curb the pandemic while reviving the economy are the top priority, Suga said.
Turning to Japan's biggest long-term problem, a low birthrate and shrinking population, Suga reiterated a pledge to provide insurance coverage for infertility treatments.
He also vowed to promote paternity leaves for working fathers to ease the burden of child-rearing and home-making on working mothers.
He also promised more for single-parent households, more than half of which are living in poverty.
AP
