On 21 February, 2020, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of the Environment for revising Japan's emissions reduction target, through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The English translation of the recommendations has been released today.
Japan's current NDC targets a 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to the 2013 level. However, it has become clear that there is room to raise this target by matching the economic growth assumptions made when the NDC was formulated with actual figures, and making them more realistic. Drawing on the study’s results, IGES presents a more ambitious 2030 reduction target based on the assumptions on economic growth and the level of policy measures to improve energy intensity and carbon intensity.
The year 2020 is the first opportunity for countries to update and submit their NDCs. In the wake of the 1.5°C Special Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), momentum is building around the world to achieve the 1.5°C target, and 73 countries have already pledged to raise their NDC ambitions by 2020. The EU is also working on an internal process to raise its NDC. Given these circumstances, and drawing on IGES’s research activities and results, these recommendations detail the possibility of raising Japan’s NDC and provide the methodology for doing so.
IGES hopes that these recommendations make a meaningful contribution to the dialogue on raising Japan’s NDC.