Japan environment minister urges to make fight against climate change 'sexy'

NEW YORK - Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi pledged on Sunday to mobilize young people to push his coal-dependent country toward a low-carbon future by making the fight against climate change "sexy" and "fun."

Koizumi was speaking on the eve of a United Nations climate summit in New York where activists plan to float a blimp showing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerging from a bucket of coal to protest Japan's plans to build new coal-fired power plants.

"In politics there are so many issues, sometimes boring. On tackling such a big-scale issue like climate change, it's got to be fun, it's got to be cool. It's got to be sexy too," Koizumi told a news conference in New York.

"We are committed to realizing a decarbonized society, and we are ready to contribute as a more powerful country in the fight against climate change," he said.

Japanese students in Tokyo were among the millions of young people who took to the streets on Friday to express the fear and outrage they feel over the failure of governments to control greenhouse gas emissions, which hit a record high last year.

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Considered a rising star on Japan's political scene, Koizumi, 38, became the third-youngest lawmaker to join a post-World War II Cabinet when Abe announced a reshuffle this month.

The son of charismatic former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, he is regularly rated by voters as the lawmaker they would most like to see in the top job when Abe steps down.

Although Japan is not due to speak at the climate summit on Monday, Koizumi said he was in New York to learn more about the state of negotiations on global greenhouse gas emissions and meet Japanese students.

He was speaking alongside Christiana Figueres, an architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb global warming, who had invited him to meet various companies and banks aiming to accelerate investment in clean energy projects in Asia.