Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit France and Luxembourg from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2, attending a U.N. climate summit in Paris, the government said Wednesday.
Abe will join the first day of the Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 U.N. climate talks in Paris, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference, adding that Japan will show its pro-active stance on reaching an agreement on a new carbon-capping framework beyond 2020.
"At the COP 21, (countries) will negotiate with the aim of building a new international framework that will replace the Kyoto Protocol," Suga said, referring to a 1997 pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against global warming.
The Paris talks are officially called COP 21, or the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Negotiating countries will aim to agree on a fair and effective post-Kyoto framework with the participation of major carbon emitters such as China, the United States and India.
Critics say the Kyoto Protocol is ineffective as it fails to include the United States as well as China and other emerging economies that will increase carbon emissions in the coming decades.
Suga, the top government spokesman, said it is still unknown whether Abe will hold talks with French President Francois Hollande during his stay in Paris in the wake of last week's terror attacks.
After attending the U.N. climate summit, Abe plans to visit Luxembourg, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.