Tokyo (EFE).- Japan said on Wednesday that it would call for more mitigation of emissions and greater international cooperation at the United Nations Climate Summit (COP30) in Brazil, given the indifference of the United States, which plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement against climate change in 2026.
A Japanese government official said at a press conference that other countries were not following the example of the US and abandoning the framework of the Paris Agreement.
Moreover, he expressed hope that as many countries as possible would participate in the climate pact to reach a balance.
The official stressed that only 70 nations had submitted in 2025 their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), or plans on climate measures that each country would adopt and their projected results that are renewed every five years.
The UN has warned that the contributions submitted so far have barely reduced temperature projections from last year, and confirmed that the world would exceed the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global temperature rise in the next decade, a situation difficult to reverse.
To achieve the Paris Agreement target, Japan’s efforts on its own would not be sufficient, and that it was important that the international community joined in a coordinated effort, according to the official.
In February, Japan announced its new NDCs for 2025, in which it plans to reduce its emissions by 60 percent by 2035 and 73 percent by 2040, compared to its highest levels in 2013, the highest on record.
Japan has historically been one of the largest pollutants globally, but since 2014 it has managed to reduce its emissions considerably and now emits fewer greenhouse gases than Russia, India, the European Union, Indonesia or Brazil, as well as the US and China, according to a report from the European Commission with data from 2024.
The COP30 will be held from Nov 10-21 in the Brazilian town of Belem, and Japan will be represented by Environment Minister Hirotaka Ishihara. EFE
jdg/sc
