¥2 tril. fund set for environmental tech

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday expressed his intention to establish a ¥2 trillion fund to support companies investing in technological innovation, mainly in environmental fields, to achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The envisaged fund will be part of additional economic measures to be finalized on Tuesday.

Suga also expressed his determination to allocate a more than ¥1 trillion budget for digitization-related measures in a bid to resurrect the pandemic-stricken economy.

The extraordinary Diet session effectively ended Friday, and Suga made the remarks at a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office later on the same day. It was Suga’s first press conference in Japan since the one he held on Sept. 16, just after becoming prime minister.

“I will take a big step in the area of environmental investment in order to change the way of thinking to create a virtuous cycle of environment and growth,” Suga said at the press conference, expressing his willingness to support companies with a ¥2 trillion fund over the next 10 years.

He announced the government will extend for six months the validity of points that can be obtained by acquiring a My Number identification card. The point system was introduced to promote the use of the cards, which are deemed the key to the nation’s digitization.

Regarding envisaged 6G communications standards expected to replace the highspeed, high-capacity 5G, Suga said, “The government will take the lead in its research and development.”

As for the spread of the novel coronavirus, Suga said at the beginning of the press conference, “We are responding with a strong sense of urgency because hospital beds secured for the seriously ill are beginning to become scarce.”

Taking that into consideration, if local governments in areas of rising infection request restaurants and other establishments to shorten their opening hours, he said, “The central government will firmly support all establishments that comply with such requests.” He added that ¥1.5 trillion in special subsidies to local governments will be secured in additional economic measures as a source of funding for the cooperation money.

Suga also announced that the government will again by the end of this month start providing special cash handouts to single- parent households that receive child support allowances and others, as part of coronavirus countermeasures.

As with the earlier payment, households with children will receive ¥50,000 for one child, plus ¥30,000 for each additional child.

Regarding the vaccines that are being developed in Japan and abroad, Suga said, “We are taking all possible measures to prepare for the vaccines that have been approved, so that those who need them can be vaccinated immediately while placing the highest priority on their safety and effectiveness.”

As for the timing for starting the vaccinations, he only said, “I’d like to refrain from making definite statements with any prejudgment.” (Dec. 6)