By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA (AA) – Japan is now aiming for a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the country’s prime minister declared on Thursday.
Yoshihide Suga said Japan hopes that this “ambitious” target, a major increase from the previous figure of 26%, will allow it to “lead international discussions on curbing emissions,” Kyodo News reported.
He told a government task force that Japan’s long-term aim is to “make an effort to cut emissions by 50%.”
The announcement by the world’s third-largest economy came on the eve of the Leaders Summit on Climate being hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Last October, Suga said Japan would achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“Japan hopes to make active contributions to resolving [climate change], and we hope to firmly lead global decarbonization efforts in the summit as we look toward COP26 [UN Climate Change Conference] and beyond,” Katsunobu Kato, the chief cabinet secretary, said at a news conference earlier on Thursday.