Japan Foreign Affairs Press Secretary, Kazuo Kodama tonight re-affirmed Japan’s concerns around climate change. “As we all know, the global community must address the issue of rising sea levels and rising temperatures. In order to address [climate change] there seems to be a consensus today …that we have to transform our society from carbon intensive one to a low carbon society.”
Kodama spoke on the eve of the beginning of the G8 Foreign Ministers’ meetings in Gatineau, Canada. He represented his minister s he explained the ebbs and flows of Japan’s climate push, as he said, “Prime Minister Hatoyama and Minister Okada are really the leaders on this issue. The key challenge for us, the Japanese community, is that it’s very important for us to convince our people that climate change counter initiatives are compatible with sustained economic growth.”
That said, Japan still managed to recently successfully pass their own climate change bill, including a commitment of emission cuts a quarter below what they were in 1990 by 2020. Japan is also currently engaged in the G20 discussion of innovative financing as a way to put new money towards development aid and climate change. Canada will debate the next stage of its potential climate change Bill C-311 this Wednesday.
The G8 Foreign Ministers’ meetings continue on Tuesday, March 30.
Man I’d love to see Obama up there saying ‘we’re going to take up a whole series of green jobs, green development and green infrastructure initiatives’. Or Harper, for that matter.