Japan's New Leader Sets Ambitious Goal of Carbon Neutrality by 2050

Japan will be carbon neutral by 2050, its prime minister said this week, making an ambitious pledge to sharply accelerate the country's global warming targets, even as it plans to build more than a dozen new coal-burning power plants in the coming years. From a report: The prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, laid out the goal during his first major policy speech since taking office in September, when Japan's longest-serving leader, Shinzo Abe, abruptly resigned. The announcement came just weeks after China, Japan's regional rival, said it would reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2060. Addressing Japan's Parliament, Mr. Suga called for the country to "be carbon neutral in 2050," a declaration that drew loud applause from lawmakers. Achieving that goal will be good not only for the world, he said, but also for Japan's economy and global standing. "Taking an aggressive approach to global warming will bring about a transformation in our industrial structure and economic system that will lead to big growth" in the economy, he said, answering critics who have warned of the economic consequences. Japan's new climate pledge is a major upgrade of its previous commitment to reducing greenhouse gases, and necessary if the world hopes to keep a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees, as called for in the 2015 Paris climate accord.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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