Japan pledges nearly $15b for climate policies in developing nations

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged to give $10.6 billion more to developing nations in 2020 to help them implement policies against global warming, ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris next week.

The decision to offer 1.3-trillion yen (S$14.9 billion) came after Japan gave a roughly combined 2.0 trillion yen for the same purpose in 2013 and 2014.

Japanese officials said the money will go toward a 2009 pledge among developed countries to commit US$100 billion (S$140.8 billion) by 2020 to address the needs of developing nations - agreed at the COP15 climate meeting in Copenhagen.

"We attach great importance to the notion that all nations will participate in agreeing to a new international framework," Abe said in a meeting on global warming with members of his cabinet.

He added that Japan wanted to encourage active participation in climate change by developing nations.

The pledged money will be funded both by the private and public sectors, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government's top spokesman.

He said Abe would announce details of the pledge at the UN climate conference to be held in Paris, which is set to be the biggest-ever gathering of world leaders on climate change.

"COP21 will be an extremely important meeting as we aim to agree on an international framework against global warming that will replace the Kyoto Protocol," Suga said.

"Prime Minister Abe will announce (Japan's climate programmes) to the world at the COP21 summit," Suga said of the gathering.

Japan has aggressively promoted use of its energy efficient technologies and infrastructure, such as train systems and power generation stations, to developing nations.