TOKYO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese specialized panel on Tuesday urged the government to establish an ambitious goal for greenhouse gas emissions reduction in efforts to substantially reduce CO2 emissions in the second half of the 21st century, local media reported.
The panel held a meeting of professors and corporate executives and came up with a set of proposals saying that Japan needs to make a "new shift" in its fight against global warming.
The panel proposed that the country should aim to achieve the "ultimate goal of a carbon-free society at the earliest possible time during the second half of this century."
"We hope to accelerate the virtuous cycle of taking environmental measures and promoting growth, and trigger a paradigm shift in the world," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the meeting of the panel.
The panel also suggested that Japan should "show contributions" to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep the average global temperatures growth below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally 1.5 degrees, to reduce the impact of climate change.
The panel also urged the government to make full use of renewable energy and to do its best to reduce dependence on coal-fired thermal power generation.
By far, Japan has been striving for the long-term goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent by 2050 from the levels in 2013.
The government is planning to introduce a long-term strategy against climate change based on the panel's proposals before Japan hosts the Group of 20 summit in late June.
