Japan’s new prime minister-elect, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, is going to fight climate changeClimate change is a lasting change in weather patterns over long periods of time. It can be a natural phenomena and and has occurred on Earth even before people inhabited it. Quite different is a current situation that is also referred to as climate change, anthropogenic climate change, or ... by backing deep emissionEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC) cuts. As host of the Kyoto summit in 1997, Japan is keen to reposition itself at the forefront of the battle against climateClimate is typically defined as the average weather (or more rigorously a statistical description of the average in terms of the mean and variability) over a period of time, usually 30 years. These quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate ... change. Its emissionsEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC) rose 2.3% in the year to March 2008, putting it 16% above its 2012 Kyoto target. Mr. Hatoyama also agrees that industrialized nations will have to provide financial support as well set an example for developing countries. UNThe United Nations Organization (UNO) is an international organization that focuses on facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. It was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace ...-top climate officials told AFP that without such steps and a strong commitment to slash emissions on all sides global climate treaties will be defeated. Poor countries and emerging economies insist that highly industrialized countries, namely the U.S, the E.C. (plus Norway and Switzerland) and Japan, are historically responsible for global warmingHuman activities are adding greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, to the atmosphere, which are enhancing the natural greenhouse effect. While the natural greenhouse effect is keeping average temperature on earth at about +15°C, this enhanced greenhouse effect ... and therefore have a moral obligation to take a leading role to reduce CO₂ emissions. Right now Japan is the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide.

While taking on this view, Mr. Hatoyama also said that Japan couldn’t stop climate change just with his country setting an emissions target. He therefore aims to create a fair and effective international framework with all major countries in the world.

He wants to set more ambitious targets than the outgoing government, but premised on a deal of ambitious goals being agreed on by major nations. On Monday he said he will forge ahead with a tough 25 % cut in emissions by 2020. That would be a stronger commitment than that of the outgoing business-friendly government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, whose 2020 target announced in June was to cut emissions to 8 % below 1990 levels. Even that target was agreed on only after lengthy consultations with the industry and public, and now Japan’s top business group, Keidanren, is expected to lobby against the new  emissions target. The auto industry lobby has said it is also worried.

Mr. Hatoyama stressed that he saw the targets as an opportunity, not a threat, for Japan’s declining economy. “Tackling climate change aggressively will open a new frontier for the Japanese economy and create jobs in areas such as electric carsA car powered by electric power, with a high efficiency, could be powered by renewable sources of energy. and clean energy technology, including solar powerPhotovoltaics (PV) is the field of technology and research related to the application of solar cells for energy by converting sunlight directly into electricity. Solar power is sometimes used as a synonym to refer to electricity generated from solar radiation.,” he said.

His government, which will take office on 16 September, has pledged to create a domestic emissions tradingThe creation of a market designed to facilitate the buying and selling of the rights to emit greenhouse gases. market with compulsory volume caps on emitters as well as to introduce a “feed-in” tariff for electricityA form of energy having magnetic, radiant and chemical effects. Electric current is created by a flow of electrons. from renewable sources. His centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) also wants to introduce other financial rewards to help expand capacity for clean energyThe ability to perform work, mainly kinetic, potential, thermal energy, but also in forms of gravitational, sound, elastic and electromagnetic energy. sources. There’s also talk of a new carbon taxA carbon tax is a levy on the carbon content of fossil fuels. Because virtually all of the carbon in fossil fuels is ultimately emitted as carbon dioxide, a carbon tax is equivalent to an emission tax on each unit of CO2- equivalent emissions. An energy tax - a levy on the energy content of ..., but at the same time other plans to eliminate highway toll and the abolition of a gasoline surcharge, which green groups say are counter-productive. These measures are intended as reconciliation for his bold initiatives.

Overall, the announcements have been found conclusive. The U.N. climate chief said Mr. Hatoyama’s new commitment was “laudable” and would spur change in Japan’s economy.

“With such a target, Japan will take on the leadership role that industrialized countries have agreed to take in climate change abatement,” Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told the symposium.

On a world scale, Mr. Hatoyama said industrialised countries should provide financial and technological support to developing nations working proactively to reduce emissions, adding that his new government would discuss such steps soon after taking powerUseful energy can be mechanical energy, for example powering a fan.. The premier-in-waiting, who is due to take office on September 16, is planning to detail his plan, which he dubbed the ‘Hatoyama Initiative,’ at a UN meeting on climate change in New York later this month. He will officially announce his targets in Copenhagen this December, aimed at agreeing to a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. The Copenhagen talks will be dominated by attempts to persuade China, India and other big emerging economies to sign up to emissions targets.

On the international scale, European Union has pledged to slash its emissions by 20 percent by the end of the next decade and by 30 percent if other members of the club of rich nations follow suit. U.S. president Obama has proposed reducing greenhouse gasGreenhouse gas emissions cause dangerous anthropogenic climate change. Emissions include CO2, fluoridated gases, methane which are emitted by human activity such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, and water vapour. output by 14 percent compared to 2005 levels.

But while Japan’s targets are some of the most ambitious ones in the world, they are still at the lower end of the 25-40% cuts recommended by the UN climate change panel. It has to be hoped that other nations will follow suit in setting up more convincing targets in the very near future.