December 10, 2021

A Japanese Communist Party representative, at an online workshop held on December 8 by the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), reported that the JCP is pressing the Japanese government to fulfil its responsibility for having emitted large amounts of CO2 in the past and to help developing countries reduce CO2 emissions.

Mitsukawa Tomoyo, a member of the JCP International Commission, attended the workshop "climate change -- political parties' roles in Asia to achieve net-zero emissions”.

Mitsukawa said that the Japanese government has a reduction target much lower than the global average and plans to build nine more domestic coal-fired power stations while promoting coal power projects abroad.

Mitsukawa outlined the party's proposal aimed at promoting a drastic change in Japan's total energy system by pulling out of coal and nuclear power generation and by promoting renewables and energy conservation measures.

In this workshop, 31 political parties from 23 countries participated to exchange views regarding the present situation of public-business cooperation and regional-global cooperation in each country. Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon delivered a keynote speech.

Representatives of the political parties reported that many vulnerable people affected by the coronavirus pandemic tend to suffer more from waves of extreme weather events such as super typhoons (Thailand), wildfires (Turkey), glacier melting (Nepal), and droughts (Uzbekistan).

They agreed that climate change will undermine global efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries, and confirmed that multinational cooperation is imperative to overcome the climate crisis. They talked about the importance of cooperation from the private sector as well as the importance of roles that political parties play in government policy-making.