Delivering on Climate Targets in Japan and the UK, with Kimiko Hirata and Chris Huhne

With the Glasgow Climate Change Conference
starting on 31 October, Japan Society chairman Bill Emmott is joined by
activist Kimiko Hirata and energy and climate consultant Christopher
Huhne to examine the ambitions and actions of the Japanese and UK
governments.

Both countries have committed to net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and have recently submitted or proposed
improved targets for their 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDCs). However, while the UK’s strengthened 2030 target of a 68%
reduction below 1990 levels is in line with its 2050 net-zero target,
there are concerns that current policies are insufficient to achieve
this. At 46%, Japan’s 2030 proposed NDCs remain at below 50%, although
this is a significant improvement of its previous target of 26%. Most
concerning for many is the continued reliance on coal for 19% of its
2030 energy mix.          

It remains to be seen how many countries will
submit their revised NDCs ahead of COP26 and how robust these plans will
be. Are policy makers in Japan and the UK prepared to take decisive
action? Is developing the green economy more than ‘some expensive politically correct green act’? What does ‘building back better’ mean?

Kimiko Hirata is the international director and founding member of the Kiko Network,
a Japanese NGO dedicated to halting climate change. She is a 2021
Goldman Environmental Prize Recipient. Kimiko became a climate activist
in the 1990s and quit her job at a publishing house to join the
environmental movement. In 1997, she participated in the Kyoto Climate
Summit, at which she supported Japanese civil society through advocacy
and media engagement.

Facing a new coal power plant boom following the
2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, Kimiko Hirata launched a
sophisticated, multi-pronged, national anti-coal campaign, which
culminated in the cancellation of 17 planned coal plants. She is now
also a visiting associate professor of the Chiba University of Commerce,
which has Japan’s first 100% renewable university initiative.

Christopher Huhne has spent the
last ten years concerned with energy and climate change policy as
adviser, minister, shadow minister, and negotiator at national and
international level. He was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary
and MP for Eastleigh before the 2010 general election. After the
formation of the coalition government he became energy and climate
change secretary. Prior to entering politics Chris was an award-winning
economic and financial journalist for the Guardian and Independent and
later spent 5 years as a City economist.