Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga gives his first policy speech in parliament as an extraordinary session opens in Tokyo, Japan Photograph:( Reuters )
Tokyo had previously said it would achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century, rather than set an explicit target
Japan on Monday set a 2050 deadline for the world's third-largest economy to attain a zero-emissions, carbon-neutral society, significantly firming up the country's climate change commitments.
Tokyo had previously said it would achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century, rather than set an explicit target, and its swing brings it into line with the European Union, which set a carbon neutrality target of 2050 last year.
"Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth," Suga said in a prepared speech, his first policy address to parliament since taking office last month.
"We need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth."
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Japan is the world's fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, and while moves are being made to increase renewable energy, the country also plans to roll out new coal stations.
Suga did give a precise timeline for how Japan, a country still heavily reliant on coal, will achieve the goal but said the technology would be essential.
"The key is innovation," Suga said, citing examples including next-generation solar batteries.
He said Japan would also push the use of renewable energy and nuclear power, stressing that safety would be a priority, a key point in a country that suffered the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Japan, which is a signatory to the Paris agreement, was the sixth-biggest contributor to global greenhouse emissions in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency.
Tokyo has been struggling to cut carbon emissions after shutting down its nuclear reactors following the 2011 meltdown in Fukushima sparked by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Reliance on fossil fuels like coal increased in Japan after the Fukushima disaster, as public anger over the accident pushed all of the country's nuclear reactors offline temporarily.