On the evening of March 13, the DPJ's Global Warming Countermeasures Headquarters (Chair: Vice President Katsuya Okada) invited British Ambassador to Japan HE Graham Fry to speak about policies for combating global warming in the UK and the EU.

At the start of the meeting, Countermeasures Headquarters Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama (Deputy-Chair of the Policy Research Committee) introduced the Ambassador, explaining how the UK has taken the lead in addressing climate change issues since the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005.

Ambassador Fry referred to progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and the EU and also explained various policies and measures that the UK has introduced to combat climate change including legal requirements to reach emissions reduction targets and the promotion of technological development. He said that now was the time for individual countries to share a common awareness of the importance of climate change issues caused by global warming and take extra measures to secure international co-operation.

Ambassador Fry's presentation was followed by a lively question-and-answer session in which he was asked about various issues including his experience of winning support from the public and industry for environmental measures, initiatives to implement carbon capture and storage, and cost-benefit analyses for measures to combat climate change.

(08/03/13)