Tokyo, 22 April, 2021 – Greenpeace Japan responded to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s decision to raise Japan\u2019s mid-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but only at 46%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Annesley, Executive Director at Greenpeace Japan,<\/strong> said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Japanese government has raised its 2030 emissions reduction target to 46% from 2013 levels, but this is a paltry move compared to the large increases in reduction targets by other countries [1], and it has dampened the reduction efforts of the international community. In order to achieve net zero emissions in 2050 that conform to the “1.5\u00b0C target” under the Paris Agreement, Japan needs to set a target of “at least 60% reduction from 2013 levels [2]. The current commitment is woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, there was no announcement to end support for exporting coal-fired power plants and related technologies, which many countries had been expecting from Japan. We still expect Prime Minister Suga to announce its commitment to phase out fossil fuels at home by 2030 and abroad, including the withdrawal from existing overseas coal power plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan’s current policy on exporting coal-fired power generation has loopholes, such as allowing it to provide support for \u2018high-efficiency projects\u2019. Considering the urgency of the climate crisis, this is far from sufficient, and Japan must once and for all put an end to its coal export and make a swift and steady shift to renewable energy. Japan must contribute to both the growth of renewable energy in developing countries and the transformation of their economies towards decarbonization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an environmental, social, and economic standpoint, it is time for Japan to prioritize the use of renewable energy, rather than bowing to pressures from the energy, automobile, steel, oil, coal, and nuclear sectors [3]. We expect investment in renewable energy technologies\/electrification that will make Japan achieve its 2030 target even earlier, as we aim for the true goal of 100% renewable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n United Kingdom: 78% by 2035, from 1990 levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n European Union: at least 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n China: at least 65% in carbon intensity by 2030, from 2005 levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n United States: 50-52% by 2030, from 2005 levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] Climate Action Tracker Contacts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitsuhisa Kawase<\/strong>, Senior Communications Officer, Greenpeace Japan: mitsuhisa.kawase@greenpeace.org, +81 (0) 70-3195-4165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greenpeace Japan responded to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s decision to raise Japan\u2019s mid-term target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but only at 46%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6646,"template":"","tags":[],"press-release-category":[14,99],"class_list":["post-18281","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","press-release-category-press-release","press-release-category-climate-change"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/18281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/18281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23633,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/18281\/revisions\/23633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18281"},{"taxonomy":"press-release-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release-category?post=18281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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[1] Current mid-term climate targets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>[3] According to InfluenceMap<\/a>\u2019s report published in August 2020, certain powerful sectors accounting for approximately 10% of Japan\u2019s GDP influence Japan\u2019s climate and energy policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n