TOKYO - Japan has kept unchanged its 2030 carbon emission target in its climate change pledge submitted to the United Nations on Monday (March 30), disappointing observers who have urged more aggressive action from one of the world's top emitters.
Japan maintained its target of a 26 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2030 from 2013 levels, a goal that has been criticised as "unambitious" given that it is well on the way to achieving it.
All signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement must submit an updated or enhanced document spelling out their climate change commitments every five years, which means an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is due this year.
Japan is among the first to put forward its document.
It has drawn sharp criticism for continuing to be wedded to coal-fired power plants, even as it has made recent investments in renewable energy, including opening the world's largest hydrogen power plant in Fukushima this month.
Japan said in its pledge, without providing a timeline: "Japan will pursue further efforts both in the medium-term and long-term, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond (the 26 per cent) level."
It added: "Japan will strive to achieve a decarbonised society as close as possible to 2050 with disruptive innovations, such as artificial photosynthesis and other CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) technologies and realisation of a hydrogen society."
This vision sets Japan on the path to weaning itself off coal, analysts said, making it puzzling why it chose to set a low bar.
Japan is expected to meet its 26 per cent goal earlier than 2030, given that it has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12 per cent as of March last year from 2013 levels.
The world's third-largest economy is the fifth-largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world, a pollutant blamed for global warming and extreme weather patterns.
Japan came under heavy pressure at the recent COP25 climate change summit in Madrid last December for its refusal to give up carbon.
This is despite extreme weather trends in recent years.
Just on Sunday (March 29), unseasonal snow fell in central Tokyo, which on March 14 this year marked its earliest start of the sakura cherry blossom season.
Record low snowfall was seen across Japan this past winter, delaying the opening of ski resorts across the country.
Last year saw the highest annual average temperature since the start of record-keeping in 1898, while the deadly Typhoon Hagibis, which made landfall last October, is one of the strongest storms on record.
One reason behind the lackadaisical commitment, analysts suggest, is a clash of interests between the Environment Ministry, which wants to wean the country off coal and nuclear power, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which priorities business interests.
The Climate Action Tracker calls Japan's climate pledges "highly insufficient", and that global warming would hit 3 to 4 deg C by 2100 should all government targets not do their fair share.
The 2015 Paris accord caps global warming this century to well below 2 deg C above pre-industrial levels, with an aim of further limiting warming to 1.5 deg C.
Ms Laurance Tubiana, an architect of the Paris Agreement, cited the European Union, Britain, China and South Korea as regions moving to a new low-carbon economy.
"If Japan doesn't move, it will lose out in the high-tech race of this century," she said. "We need bolder, mutually reinforcing plans that protect our societies from the global risks we all face."
Dr Kentaro Tamura, director of climate and energy at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, a Japanese think-tank, agrees.
He said Japan's goals are highly achievable and "missed the opportunity to duly contribute to the global endeavour towards raising the ambition level of NDCs".
