Japan eyes nuclear restart in race for 2030 climate goal

Gulf Today Report

Japan aims to expand renewable energy as much as possible and restart nuclear power plants whose safety has been confirmed, its new industry minister said on Tuesday, to meet a 2030 target of a 46 per cent cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2013 levels.

According to a report released on Tuesday that the world's coral reefs are under attack by climate change and more will disappear if oceans keep warming.

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Japan, which has pledged carbon neutrality by 2050, nearly doubled in April its target for emissions cuts to 46% by 2030, in response to pressure from the United States and some of its own firms.

The sunlight illuminates a coral reef in the Red Sea. File/Reuters

"I would like to promote the maximum adoption of renewable energy, thorough energy conservation and the restart of nuclear power plants with the highest priority on safety," the minister, Koichi Hagiuda, told his first news conference.

The study by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), a UN-supported global data network, showed that 14% of the world's coral on reefs was already lost between 2009 and 2018, equal to about 11,700 square kilometers, an area 2.5 times the size of Grand Canyon National Park.

Hagiuda called for a concerted effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 as well as the reinforced 2030 target, adding that the ministry aimed to win cabinet approval of a new basic energy plan before the Oct. 31 start of a key UN climate conference.