TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan expects greater cooperation in climate change and other environmental issues with the United States under a Joe Biden presidency, Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Tuesday.
Yoshihide Suga, who became prime minister in September, announced last month Japan aimed to cut greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 and become a carbon-neutral society in a major shift in the country’s position on climate change.
“I believe the United States will go in the same direction once (the election result) is confirmed,” Koizumi told reporters.
Biden secured more than 270 votes in the Electoral College to capture the U.S. presidency over the weekend, but incumbent Donald Trump has not conceded the election and is pushing ahead with legal challenges to the results.
“Japan’s cooperation with the United States will be broadened not only in climate change under the Paris Agreement but also in environment as a whole,” said Koizumi, son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.
The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement last week, fulfilling Trump’s years-long promise to withdraw the country from the global pact to fight climate change.
But Biden has promised to rejoin the pact and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
