September 2, 2021

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on September 1 held a press conference at the JCP head office and released the party’s action plan, entitled the “JCP strategy 2030”, aimed at cutting CO2 emissions by 50-60% by 2030 in order to address the ongoing climate crisis.

JCP Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko and JCP parliamentarian Kasai Akira, who heads the JCP task force on nuclear power generation, climate change, and energy policy issues, also attended the press conference.

Shii stressed that as stated by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its latest report, the future of humanity depends on whether carbon dioxide emissions worldwide can be halved by 2030. Shii said that the JCP strategy will form the party’s platform for the forthcoming general election as the fight against the climate change will become a major issue in the election.

The IPCC report states that if a goal of cutting greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by 45% from the 2010 level by 2030 and to zero by 2050 is not achieved, it is impossible to hold the increase in the average global temperature to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.

The JCP strategy 2030 proposes that as a goal, Japan must seek to cut CO2 emissions by 50-60% by 2030 with the use of renewables in combination with energy conservation measures. The JCP proposal states that this goal can be achieved through cuts in energy consumption by 40% and an increase of the share of renewables in electricity generation to 50%.

The JCP strategy 2030 points to the need to carry out a drastic reform of Japan’s social system in order to promote decarbonization, energy saving measures, and renewable energy generation. The JCP document cites the electricity, industrial, transportation, city development and housing, and municipal sectors as keys to the reform and explains how to realize it in these sectors. The document also explains ways to finance the promotion of decarbonization.

Regarding the reform, Shii presented calculations made by a research group showing that the promotion of decarbonization, energy saving measures, and renewable power generation will create 2.54 million jobs annually and boost Japan’s GDP by 205 trillion yen, and added that the JCP proposal will open a path towards Japan’s future with policy emphasis on sustainable development.

Shii in conclusion pointed out that efforts to tackle the climate crisis are linked to efforts to eliminate poverty and inequalities as these two issues have been caused by neoliberal policies. He added that it is necessary to change policies drastically.

Past related article:
> Suga gov’t should drastically revise GHG reduction target in line with latest IPCC report [August 14, 2021]