Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a strong diplomatic debut on the international stage Tuesday, pledging that Japan will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The pledge was made in a speech delivered in English at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, held just six days after his ascent to the premiership.
On Monday, Mr. Hatoyama had met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and expressed his idea of creating an East Asia Community, although the two leaders made no concrete agreement on this matter.
At the climate change summit, attended by leaders from more than 140 countries, U.S. President Barack Obama called on developed nations to lead efforts to combat global warming while stressing the importance of emerging nations playing due roles. He also said the United States will double the generation capacity of renewable energy sources, including wind power, in three years and push projects to capture carbon pollution from coal-burning plants. Earlier, he had announced a U.S. emissions target of returning to 1990 levels by 2020.