MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) OSCOW, October 30 (Sputnik), Valentina Shvartsman - Japan's new environmental policy aimed at attaining carbon neutrality should also address other types of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, as well as limiting effects of climate change, Risa Endo, a climate change program leader at the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), told Sputnik.
During his first keynote address to the Japanese parliament on Monday, new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga�pledged that the country would go carbon neutral by 2050. Under the previous government plan announced back in 2018, Japan was expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
While the JACSES welcomed the pledge made by Suga, the eco group stressed that there were certain problems, first and foremost, the lack of details about the way that Japan would attain carbon neutrality.
Another issue is that the Japanese prime minister's statement mostly focused on eliminating only those CO2 emissions that are caused by burning fossil fuels, but has not addressed chlorofluorocarbon and methane emissions, as well as CO2 emission caused by deforestation, which together accounts for one-third of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
"It is necessary to consider all options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 emissions from deforestation and fluorocarbons and methane, and take efficient measures to this end. We would like to see this point taken into consideration in the Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures, which is said to be under review," Endo said in an email.
The JACSES program leader also stressed that the effects of greenhouse gas emissions cross national borders, and therefore efforts have to be strengthened globally and Japan needs to show leadership in the matter.
She also noted that the ultimate goal was not just to building a carbon-free society, but to take countermeasures that would reduce the impact of climate change as much as possible, which was "almost ignored."
"With the increasing number of people suffering from poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe it is important to discuss how those people will be affected by climate change and what measures and support they need, and it needs to be reflected in the Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which is scheduled to be revised in 2021," Endo said.
