⁍ Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Japan is aiming to cut greenhouse gases to zero by 2050.

---

⁍ Japan had previously said it would be carbon neutral as soon as possible in the second half of the century.

---

– Japan is changing its tune on climate change. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced today that the country plans to become a carbon-neutral society by 2050, reports Reuters. “Responding to climate change is no longer a constraint on economic growth,” he said. “We need to change our thinking to the view that taking assertive measures against climate change will lead to changes in industrial structure and the economy that will bring about great growth.” Japan is the world’s fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, notes the New York Times, and Suga said that to become carbon neutral, the country will need to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by a third from 1990 levels by 2050.