Japan Press Weekly

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2009 June 3 - 9 [ENVIRONMENT]

Japan’s low reduction targets are unacceptable to world: JCP Ichida

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on June 8 stated that Japan’s targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions are so low that they will be unacceptable at international climate change talks.

At a news conference held in the Diet, Ichida said, “To adopt targets of cutting emissions to 30 percent below the 1990 levels as a mid-term goal is the responsibility Japan, as one of the developed countries, should bear.”

The government is considering setting its reduction targets to 25 percent as its midterm goal by 2020.

At meetings of the U.N. special working group on global warming prevention begun on June 1 in Bonn, Germany, they are considering setting reduction targets to 25-40 percent below the 1990 level.

Despite this, Japan is thinking of setting lower targets. “Because,” Ichida pointed out, “the Japan Business Federation and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation are pushing for the low reduction targets, trying to obstruct global efforts.”

About a concern the government and these business circles have about their heavier burdens if taking global warming countermeasures, Ichida said, “Without taking such measures, an extra burden of about 17 trillion yen will be needed a year to combat such negative effects of global warming as floods, high tides, and heat stroke.”

He added, “It is a matter relating to the survival of the human race and of our planet.”