Statement made by the Delegation of Japan

Session 2: Technology, including technology use and development and transfer of technology

Mr. Chairman,
As clearly stated in the IPCC Third Assessment Report and as have been pointed out by many countries, global efforts to undertake emission reduction are essential for stabilizing greenhouse gas concentration. For that purpose, technology plays an extremely important role in reducing greenhouse gases.

To effectively address climate change problems, Japan has been actively promoting a number of innovative technologies including fuel cell, hydrogen, carbon sequestration and earth observation system. Effective international cooperation in these areas, such as those taken by the U.S. this year, should be also further facilitated.

Japan is also willing to take a leadership in promoting the diffusion and transfer of its existing climate friendly technologies. For that purpose, Japan's world leading energy efficiency and its advanced renewable and new energy technologies should be fully utilised.

In this connection, Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out that in order to take full advantage of the potential of CDM, smooth and quick implementation is necessary. Our urgent task is to further accelerate developing rules and systems, such as methodology in accounting credits. Japan also intends to promote cooperation in capacity -building of host countries.

I believe such undertakings can surely help countries concerned strike a balance between economic development and climate change mitigation, and achieve sustainable development of their economy.

Mr. Chairman,
Kyoto Protocol is a significant first step toward strengthening actions against climate change. It is the only viable formula that we have so far found. It gives the participating countries new opportunities, not just for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions but also for enhanced cooperation and confidence-building among them. The Government of Japan is making its utmost to fulfill the commitments of the Protocol. Japan strongly urges the countries that have not yet concluded the Protocol to do so as soon as possible.

Finally, we must also begin to discuss the future actions to address climate change and identify their requirements in medium and long-term perspective. This is because we have learnt from experience that it takes a long time to come to an agreement among us on the future. In this regard, the Government of Japan wants to stress the importance of establishing a set of common rules which are applied to all the countries.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.