Remarks by Mr. Ishihara, Minister of the Environment of Japan on President Obama's Climate Action Plan

June 26, 2013

On June 25 (local time) U.S. President Obama held a speech regarding the President's Climate Action Plan.

President Obama strongly emphasized his commitment to the goal of reducing greenhouse gases by about 17% from 2005 levels by the year 2020, while also going into the specific measures to achieve those goals.

The United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, and I believe this new concrete and comprehensive policy towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions carries a large meaning for the promotion of efforts all over the world against climate change. For this reason, I greatly welcome the President's announcement.

Japan will continue to work with the United States to take forward global climate change actions including the development of the future framework beyond 2020, various international frameworks and bilateral cooperation.

Additionally, Japan too is striving to make progress on climate change measures: Japan will make a new climate change action plan by COP 19 that includes a target for 2020.