Japanese prime minister urges greater efforts to address climate change

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua)-- The newly-elected Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, on Tuesday called for greater international efforts to combat global climate change, which he said requires a global response.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama addresses the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Summit at the UN headquarters in New York Sept. 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

The Japanese prime minister made the appeal while addressing the one-day UN Summit on Climate Change, which opened here on Tuesday. It was his first time to attend a climate change summit and the general debate of the General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York since he assumed office six days ago.

Noting his appointment just six days ago in a historic change of the Japanese government, Hatoyama pledged to set a long-term reduction target in greenhouse gases, aiming to cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020 as compared to the 1990 level.

"However, Japan's efforts alone cannot halt climate change, even if it sets an ambitious reduction target," he said. "The commitment of Japan to the world is premised on agreement on ambitious targets by all the major economies."