politics

Abe speaks at climate summit, meets Iran president in New York

10 Comments

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has had a busy first two days in New York on Monday and Tuesday, speaking at Columbia University, dining at the Council on Foreign Relations, giving an address at the U.N. Climate Summit, meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and holding a news conference.

Abe kicked off his six-day visit on Monday by speaking at Columbia University's year-round World Leaders Forum. On Tuesday, he spoke at the climate change conference where he pledged Japan's efforts to fight global warming through technical means as well as helping developing countries utilize new technologies to reduce carbon emissions. Abe said Japan will train more than 10,000 personnel from developing countries to help combat global warming.

Abe, who was one of 120 leaders taking part in the summit, said that next year's U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, scheduled to be hosted by Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, will focus on energy conservation technology and disaster prevention.

The prime minister also attended a luncheon at the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan before meeting Iranian President Rouhani with whom he discussed the threat of the Islamic State and Iran's nuclear program. The two leaders agreed to have senior ministers meet on a regular basis.

Later in the day, Abe held a news conference in which he said that Japan supports the airstrikes by the United States and its allies in Syria, targeting Islamic State.

Abe is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday and return to Japan on Saturday.

© Japan Today/Reuters/AP

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10 Comments
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No one even follows the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, not Russia, not Japan, and not the biggest polluters US and China.

You don't need to train those in developing countries, these magnanimous leaders need to practice what they're preaching and stop pushing back target dates for meeting emission cutting goals until 2020...2025...20...whatever, I'll be dead or out of office!.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

So what did the leader of this giant green-house gas emitter pledge just after the people of the world went to the streets to try and get political and corporate leaders to do something at a time when we must take urgent action? Some vague technical solution and help for others polluters, when it is his nation that needs to start drastic reductions and shift quickly to alternative, sustainable energy. So he basically offered to continue as usual, which will mean a 4-6 degree celsius rise in temperatures according to conservative business organizations such as the World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In front of a world audience he spat in the face of the future. He need not have attended and wasted everyone's time.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Japan's electricity now at 90% fossil fuel generated, highest in the industrialized world. Would fight global warming harder, but 60% of voters are scared of radiation, or so we are told. It's a farce that Abe is speaking at a global warming conference after the nonsense and corruption of the last 3.5 years

8 ( +10 / -2 )

focus on energy conservation technology

A nice simple and obvious place to start would be to build insulated homes and retrofit existing ones so they stay warmer longer in winter using less energy and cooler in summer.

Walls in most house are rice paper thin allowing wasted energy on a mass scale.

All this talk does nothing but create more green house gases with these over entitled ones flying round the world to talk about stuff that will never happen.

But I did read recently the Ozone hole is getting smaller, be interesting to see why the scientists think that is.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Japan has the tech to help other countries reduce emissions, for sure, but they are hardly in a position to be tooting their own horn or hosting disaster forums in the town where they want to turn on NPPs that sit on massive fault lines. What's more, Japan could do FAR more in terms of reducing waste, and did a good job after the disasters of 3/11, but it's back to very high levels of consumption, which only makes it necessary to use more energy to combat. Adopting daylight savings time again would help to an extent.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Meanwhile forgetting industry or politicians - the Japanese public themselves don't seem to be up in arms about importing tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of gas and oil.

The Japanese public themselves need to really look more at what they expect energy production wise. There are more options they could be pushing for instead of a large group just concentrating on saying no to one particular form of energy production. Meanwhile the economy takes a beating too because of this - any of the public awake or able to sea the big picture or can they only concentrate on the one issue of nuclear and seem incapable of of any widespread discussions of better options than the current very dire route of the last 3 years.

After all we are told the country has many great technical minds for these challenges (and they do) - but the public and media at large - I don't see them even capable of talking about it to any mildly intelligent or bigger picture way or not enough at least considering the grave problems of their economy and co2 production. At least they don't have high gas guzzling cars as standard and energy consumption per person wasn't previously so bad on the world scale - but wheres the discussion?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

meeting Iranian President Rouhani with whom he discussed the threat of the Islamic State and Iran’s nuclear program.

Actually Rouhani doesn't trust Abe just like Putin, just a year ago Abe planned to put sanction on Iran with some other countries, and Iran doesn't know when Japan will do to same again! It's hard for even your wife to believe in you again if you betrayed her before!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

They better think of a new name for green house gases because it doesn't work with the new name climate change. That's left over vocabulary from global warming.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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