Investors encourage Japanese Government to lift climate ambition with revised Paris pledge
17 February 2020
International investor organisations, whose members have assets under management worth hundreds of trillions in yen, have written to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to encourage his government to demonstrate global climate change leadership by strengthening its emissions reduction pledges under the Paris Agreement ahead of the crucial 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change slated for November in Glasgow.
In the letter, the six investor organisations encourage the Japanese Government to increase the ambition of its 2030 emissions reduction target from the current 26 percent reduction goal and set a clear path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The investor organisations also note that current emissions reduction pledges from all countries are not yet sufficient to secure the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.
By lifting its ambition through a revised Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, the investor organisations’ letter said Japan would create a positive market signal that is key to unlocking the private capital needed to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy.