Japan to Provide Assistance to Developing Countries to Address Climate Change

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released "Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2008 / Japan's International Cooperation" on February 3, 2009. In the ODA White Paper, the ministry announced its plan to provide funds amounting to approximately U.S.$10 billion for five years from 2008 to developing countries to address climate change. This assistance is based on the Cool Earth Promotion Programme, which Former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda presented at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in January 2008.

Japan plans to offer 1.25 trillion yen (about U.S.$10 billion) in total through the five years under the new financial mechanism called "Cool Earth Partnership" to help developing countries achieve both emissions reductions and economic growth. The Japanese government estimates about one trillion yen (about U.S.$11 billion) as assistance for climate mitigation and about 250 billion yen (about U.S.$3 billion) as assistance for climate change adaptation and improved access to clean energy by utilizing various measures such as grant aid, technical cooperation, yen loans, and corporate sponsorships.

Japan already started to assist developing countries in cooperation with 60 other nations in October 2008, including cooperation for coastal protection in Tuvalu and a yen loan for U.S.$300 million to Indonesia, the host country for the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP13).

Japan's ODA White Paper
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/index.html

Posted: 2009/05/15 06:00:15 AM