JAPAN TODAY


TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday Japan intends to balance efforts to fight global warming with its focus on economic growth, in the wake of a landmark international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’ll achieve (the goal) without sacrificing economic growth,” Abe said in a statement, as Tokyo pledged to cut emissions from 2013 levels by 26% by 2030.

Abe also welcomed the global accord reached Saturday at a U.N. meeting on climate change in Paris as a “fair agreement,” underscoring that Japan will implement the agreement as a “top priority issue for the Cabinet.”

“We’ll further improve Japan’s strength (in the battle against global warming) and keep playing a leading role in the international community,” the statement said, apparently referring to Japanese industries’ development of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly technologies.

Nearly 200 nations agreed on the legally binding Paris Agreement after two weeks of intense negotiations where leaders, ministers and other officials wrangled over thorny issues that often divided developed and developing countries.

The agreement aims to hold global average temperature rises to “well below” 2 C above preindustrial levels to avert the serious consequences scientists say will be brought by climate change, such as more extreme weather events, droughts, floods, melting glaciers and rising seas.

© KYODO