News article on Japan and COP 15

Précis: News Article on Japan

This article talks about the criticism that Japan is confronted with in the light of the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen. Other nations such as the European Union urge Japan to further lower their carbon emissions. Yet, Japan refutes the criticism because it argues that it undertakes enough actions to combat climate change. The prime minister of Japan states that Japan focuses reductions of carbon emissions are “real” and criticizes the other nations which want to adopt the cap and trade system. The minister frequently juxtaposes Japan to the other nations in order to highlight that his country is in fact well above the other nations in combating climate change. He supports his notion by the use of statistics stating that Japan’s reductions are greater than the European Union’s and the US compared to 2005. Furthermore, he presents an economic argument in order to justify that Japan would incur greater costs than other countries if it were to achieve lower carbon emissions.