Environmentalists and nongovernment organizations were quick to denounce Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's new climate change initiative Monday, calling it "insufficient" and "lacking essence" for not proposing a solid midterm greenhouse gas reduction target.
"The government can't pledge (a midterm goal) because it has been unsuccessful in cutting the nation's greenhouse gas emissions so far," said Mitsutoshi Hayakawa, managing director for NGO Citizens' Alliance for Saving the Atmosphere and the Earth. "This proposal is an impediment heading in to the Group of Eight summit."
The proposal, titled the "Fukuda Vision," was unveiled by the prime minister during a news conference in Tokyo. It advocates a 60 percent to 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from current levels by 2050 but stops short of setting a midterm target to 2020, such as the one set out by the European Union.