EU, Japan to form Green Alliance for cooperation on climate change

The EU and Japan to form Green Alliance to accelerate environmental and climate actions. Image courtesy: The official EU website.

The European Union (EU) and Japan have announced their intention to form a Green Alliance to accelerate climate and environmental actions committing to fully implement the Paris Agreement and achieve growth.

In a joint statement issued by the EU and Japan during the EU-Japan Summit held on May 27, the two parties affirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation on protecting the environment, fighting climate change, and conserving biodiversity.

As per the information on the official EU website, the Green Alliance will work on five priority areas:

• Pursuing a cost-effective, safe and sustainable energy transition by adopting low-carbon technologies, including renewable energy, renewable hydrogen, energy storage, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage;
• Strengthening environmental protection by promoting more sustainable, circular practices in production and consumption, and contributing to the global goal of protecting at least 30% of both land and sea in order to conserve biodiversity;
• Increased regulatory cooperation and business exchange to drive global uptake of low-carbon technologies and environmental solutions that will accelerate the global transition to climate-neutral economies;
• Consolidating existing collaboration on research and development in the areas of decarbonization projects, renewable energy, and the bio-economy; and
• Maintaining both parties' leadership on international sustainable finance to help converge on a definition of sustainable investments and ensure consistency and transparency about sustainability-related disclosures.

To further accelerate the green transition, the two economies have stated they will be signing an MoU on hydrogen in Autumn this year. Additionally, the two partners will work together closely on the international stage to promote cooperation on climate action in developing countries.

"The partners will work to facilitate the transition to climate-neutral and resilient societies, including through phasing out government support for carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy, promoting international access to renewable energy, the exchange of information on mitigation and adaptation efforts, and support in the deployment of safe and sustainable low-carbon technologies," according to the official statement by EU on the EU-Japan Green Alliance.