Japan to pledge 16 billion USD to emerging nations to combat climate change
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E-mail Xinhua, November 8, 2013
The Japanese government on Thursday reiterated its plans to provide financial aid to developing nations to help them tackle the effects of climate change and global warming.
At a meeting of the 19th Conference of the Parties (COP 19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to be held from Nov. 11 to Nov. 22 in Poland, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to pledge 16 billion U.S. dollars of financial assistance over a three year period to Pacific, African and Asian nations that are struggling with issues caused by climate change.
With developing countries expected to request a total of 35 billion dollars at the upcoming conference, Japan's contribution would account for around 40 percent of the entire appeal and significantly contribute to emerging nations taking preemptive measures to mitigate the future effects of climate change and to assist those countries already affected.
Japanese officials said that part of the funds have been earmarked to help deal with storm surges as well as making provisions for more thermal power plants to be constructed.
Thermal power plants are recognized as being more environmentally-friendly than biomass, gas fire or coal fire plants that produce relatively high levels of carbon dioxide and other environmentally harmful emissions.
Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara, alongside other government officials, is also expected to announce at the convention the launch in 2017 of a satellite capable of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries. Other next- generation technologies such as the production of synthetic fibers from carbon dioxide and water are also expected to be unveiled by Japan at the convention, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Japan, maneuvering itself as a key architect and financial backer of the United Nations' global climate change endeavors, come at a time when Japan itself may face criticism at the convention for its reliance on environmentally unsound forms of energy production.
Japan's nuclear reactors remain offline following the March 2011 nuclear disaster at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that was sparked by a massive earthquake-triggered tsunami battering the plant, knocking out its key cooling functions and leading to hydrogen explosions and nuclear meltdowns, in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
The Japanese government's target for greenhouse gas emissions for 2020 have subsequently been set at 3.8 percent lower than 2005 levels and 3 percent higher than those set in 1990.
The revised emissions figure is based on the fact that Japan's dependence on nuclear power in the future is at best questionable and will likely be vastly reduced.
A final decision on the 2020 emission levels will be set in a meeting of the government's headquarters for the promotion of measures against global warming, which is headed by Abe, sources with knowledge of the matter said, with a final figure possibly being agreed upon as early as Nov. 15.
But while the government will present its reasoning for its upwardly revised emissions levels at the convention, pundits believe there may be a backlash from the international community represented in Poland, despite Japan's hefty financial and technical goodwill gestures.
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