EU, Japan Move Ahead with Low-Carbon Economy Plans

May 5, 2009

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The European Union (EU) and Japan have joined forces in the battle against climate change and invited large countries, including the United States, China and Russia, to follow suit at a recent summit meeting in Prague, reports Associated Press.

Both the U.S. and Europe have agreed to cut their carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. However, Europe will up its reductions to 30 percent if other industrialized nations do the same.

In a move to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote clean energy in North America, the United States and Mexico recently agreed to a new partnership to fight climate change as part of its joint collaboration, “U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change.”

Japan, the host of the Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change, has not announced its mid-term target yet, but it has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80 percent by 2050, according to the Google news article. The EU and Japan also urged developing countries to develop or update their action plans for a low-carbon economy.

China, a developing nation and the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, did not accept cuts in greenhouse emissions under Kyoto. China has repeatedly said it wants to richer countries to pay for its carbon emissions before committing to reductions under a new pact.

Despite having said that rich countries should lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government has launched a series of domestic initiatives it says are curbing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by factories, power plants and vehicles, according to Reuters.

Reuters also reports that Chinese state researchers will soon issue preliminary proposals for a carbon tax that may become part of the government’s efforts to reduce growing greenhouse gas emissions.

Many countries including China, Canada, Germany and Britain, are all struggling with ways to reduce GHG emissions.

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