Recorded on March 25, 2022.

Timothy A. Gelatt Dialogue on the Rule of Law in East Asia: Climate Change in Asia-Pacific

Panel 3: US-Japan Partnership in Climate Change

This event was on March 25, 2022.

This event was co-sponsored by the APEC Study Center at Columbia University.

Post-event summary

Both speakers spoke in their personal capacities. Their statements and opinions are solely their personal views, and do not necessarily reflect the views of their respective organizations.

Tomoaki Ishigaki, minister of congressional affairs at the Embassy of Japan to the United States, and Pete Ogden, vice president for energy, climate, and the environment at the United Nations Foundation, spoke about the roles played by the US and Japan in climate negotiations, the interplay between domestic constraints and international action, and areas for closer cooperation to address the accelerating climate crisis. Bruce Aronson, a U.S.-Asia Law Institute affiliated scholar, moderated the discussion.

At an April 2021 virtual climate summit hosted by President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a more ambitious goal for Japan’s greenhouse gas reduction of 46% by 2030 compared to 2013 levels. “It was a major breakthrough in the policy community,” said Mr. Ishigaki. Meeting the more ambitious goal likely will require bringing back online nuclear power plants that were shut down after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. “Only less than 10 percent of nuclear power plants are operating, so … that will be a major political and practical challenge,” said Mr. Ishigaki.

Many members of Japan's business sector are not convinced that Japan needs to be more ambitious, as they believe that Japan has already done quite a bit in comparison with other countries. They are also concerned about the financial cost of reducing emissions while remaining competitive in the global market. Mr. Ishigaki said the good news is that according to a survey of 100 major Japanese companies conducted by a major newspaper, “nearly 60 percent think they can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and about five companies say they can achieve it by 2030.”

As for the US, Mr. Ogden described it as “a fickle partner when it comes to climate change. That makes it challenging for many countries because we whip-saw back and forth between being engaged and disengaged – or even outright hostile to efforts globally on this issue.” He cited the US’s withdrawal first from the Kyoto Protocol and later from the Paris Agreement despite playing a critical role in the development of both. When the Biden administration re-entered the Paris Agreement, the US tried to re-exert itself in the space, said Mr. Ogden. “The US ended its practice of subsidizing overseas coal finance. Japan did as well. You can really see the powerful alignment that can take place when the political will is there.” When it comes to providing financial assistance to developing countries to help with their energy transitions, Mr. Ogden said that “Japan has done a much better job than the US has and plays a critical role in terms of helping to meet that global obligation.”

Mr. Ogden said there was a pronounced increase in subnational and private sector engagement and interest in climate change during the Trump administration as the lack of federal action caused governors, mayors, and private sector actors to take on more responsibility, he said. This is important because even though both countries now have the necessary ambition at the top level, change is “only going to be achievable with the rest of society on it.”

Mr. Ogden and Mr. Ishigaki also discussed the challenge for the US and Japan to encourage other countries to raise their mitigation goals, particularly since Russia’s war in Ukraine has led to fossil fuel shortages and rising prices around the world. “Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels has become a huge security and strategic liability,” said Mr. Ogden. “That’s a lesson for the US and Japan. I think that will encourage people who think about this to only accelerate this transition” away from fossil fuels. Mr. Ishigaki agreed and said, “As much as (the US and Japan) are determined to achieve our own goals, I think it would become rather pointless in the global aspiration to achieve the 1.5 degree target if we are not able to bring in other regions and countries.”

By Jessica Chin

About the speakers

Bruce Aronson is a resident affiliated scholar at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at NYU School of Law and a non-resident research associate at the Japan Research Centre at SOAS, the University of London. He also serves as an outside director at a listed Japanese pharmaceutical company. He has been a tenured professor of law at universities in the United States and Japan and a corporate partner at a major New York law firm. His main area of research is comparative corporate governance with a focus on Japan. He is co-editor of a textbook, Corporate Governance in Asia: A Comparative Approach (with J. Kim).

Tomoaki Ishigaki is minister of congressional affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. This is his third assignment in the US as he has previously served in the Embassy (1997-1999) and the Japanese Mission to the UN in New York (2010-2013). Since joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1994, he has been involved in various multilateral and bilateral negotiations including the COP22 and COP23 climate change negotiations, international trade at the WTO, international humanitarian law, and the Arms Trade Treaty at the UN, G7, and G20 meetings. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as the deputy cabinet secretary for public affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office, where he was in charge of international media relations and public diplomacy. In his most recent prior position as director of the Economic Policy Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he oversaw Japan’s economic diplomacy. He has lectured at the Department of Law at Keio University, taught international relations at the University of Tokyo, and taught international environmental law at the graduate school of law at Kyushu University. He has published a number of academic papers and contributed to books in the fields of international law, disarmament affairs, trade, and climate change policy.

Pete Ogden is vice president for energy, climate, and the environment at the United Nations Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, he was senior fellow for international energy and climate policy at the Center for American Progress, senior advisor and fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, and senior advisor at the Rhodium Group. During the Obama administration, he served in the White House as senior director for energy and climate change on the Domestic Policy Council and director for international climate change and environmental policy on the National Security Council, as well as at the State Department as chief of staff to the special envoy for climate change. Before his government roles, he was the chief of staff at the Center for American Progress. His writing on energy and climate issues has appeared in Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and other outlets.