Japan approves a plan to minimize its polluting emissions by 2050

The Government of Japan today approved a plan aimed at minimizing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, within its strategy to mitigate the climate crisis and within the framework of the Paris Agreement.

The strategy adopted by the Japanese Executive includes promoting solar and wind energy, although it also contemplates maintaining the use of fossil energies and nuclear energy, decisions that have generated criticism from environmental organizations for considering them insufficient.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters after the approval of the strategy that actions against climate change “do not entail an economic cost, but represent a path of growth towards the future.”

“We want to create a virtuous circle and lead the paradigm shift in the world’s climate policy,” said the Japanese conservative leader.

Tokyo plans to send this strategy to the United Nations towards the end of June, coinciding with the celebration in Osaka (western Japan) of the G20 summit, according to sources of the Executive to the Japanese agency Kyodo.

Japan is, along with Italy, the only G7 country that has not submitted its action plan to the UN to mitigate the effects of climate change, as established in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

This agreement ratified by most of the international community established the objective of preventing global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century compared to pre-industrial levels, and mentioned that it would be desirable for it not to exceed 1.5 degrees.

The long-term plan of the Japanese Executive contemplates increasing the proportion of the “energy mix” corresponding to renewable energies to between 22 and 24 percent by 2030.

Fossil energies such as oil, natural gas or coal will amount to 56% of the total, while nuclear will account for the remaining 20 or 22%.

The Japanese strategy also includes promoting the use of hydrogen as an energy source to reduce “to the minimum possible” the dependence on atomic energy, in the context of public concern generated by nuclear plants in the country in the wake of the Fukushima catastrophe of 2011.

A first draft of the plan called for the disposal of all of Japan’s coal-fired power plants by 2050, although this measure was scrapped in the final version due to opposition from the private sector due to its economic impact.

Source: The Vanguard