Country not doing enough on climate

Acrucial United Nations conference in the international fight against climate change has begun in Poland. At stake is whether the nearly 200 participating countries can agree on concrete rules to implement the 2015 Paris agreement by the year-end deadline. The urgency of efforts to combat global warming has been highlighted by a raft of extreme weather that hit many countries, including Japan, this year, which experts warn is being exacerbated by climate change.

Japan, as one of the world’s major emitters, needs to step up to the plate and upgrade its efforts to reduce its emissions. The share of renewables in the nation’s power supply – around 15 per cent as of 2015 – lags far behind many European economies. And the government’s plan to lift that percentage to between 22 and 24 per cent by 2030 remains conservative, meaning the nation will continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels.

Japan trails many other countries in the introduction of carbon pricing policies – which put a rate on carbon dioxide emissions to curb their output – amid opposition from industrial sectors that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases. The fact that the nation is lagging in these efforts means there’s plenty of room left to take action in combating climate change. It’s time that the nation gets moving in the effort in order to boost the momentum for worldwide action.