Japan Pledges Financial Support to Help ASEAN States Decarbonize

Japan pledged financial and technological support on Saturday to help ASEAN countries accelerate their efforts to decarbonize their economies and combat climate change.
Energy-poor Japan hopes to become the world's leading hydrogen economy to reduce dependence on traditional polluting fossil fuels such as coal and oil, Reuters reported.
As the chair of the Group of Seven nations (G7) this year, Japan will hold a ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo on April 15-16, ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, to promote what it calls realistic energy transition.
"Japan will take a lead in providing generous support in finance, technology and personal resources to help Asia's decarbonization," the country’s Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told the first ministerial meeting of the Asia Zero Emission Community.
At the meeting, attended by several ASEAN members and Australia, Nishimura said the push for collaboration will include renewable power, natural gas, hydrogen and ammonia, among other areas.
"As many countries have expressed wishes for support from Japan, we would like to take a strong leadership in supporting them in technology, finance, including investment from private sector, and human resource development," Nishimura told a briefing.