The U.N. climate change conference in Warsaw ended with a call on nations to offer plans for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions from 2020. The deadline for doing so was set March 31, 2015.
Japan, which has been widely criticized for slashing its emission goal for 2020, must come up with a new longer-term plan within 16 months. We urge the government to quickly launch serious discussions on new ways to cut Japan's carbon output that reflect the urgent need to combat climate change.
A conference impasse was avoided with a watered-down agreement that urges the parties to the talks to start preparing their "contributions" to a new international framework aimed at reducing emission of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.