Japan Sees Fulfillment Of Paris Accord 'Extraordinarily Challenging' - Prime Minister

Japan views achieving the goals on cutting greenhouse gas emission under the Paris Agreement as a challenging task given high costs of renewable energy production, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2022) Japan views achieving the goals on cutting greenhouse gas emission under the Paris Agreement as a challenging task given high costs of renewable energy production, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday.

"To fulfill the Paris Agreement, Japan has committed itself to the goals of achieving 46% reduction in emissions by fiscal year 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The journey to achieving these goals is extraordinarily challenging," Kishida said in a special address at the Davos Global Economic Forum 2022.

He noted that Japan's efforts to pursue renewable energy are impeded by the country's geographical characteristics.

"The cost of renewable power generation is inevitably high because Japan is initially a state with steep mountains surrounded by deep sea, these factors create vulnerability in the Japanese economy," Kishida said.

Japan holds the fifth highest rate of greenhouse gas emission globally after China, the United States, India and Russia, with over 1 billion tons of CO2 produced from burning of fossil fuels annually.

In April 2021, Japan increased its target from 26% to 46% of cutting the CO2 emission by 2030 and pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.