Japan to give more aid over climate change

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has expressed plans to increase Japan's aid to developing countries in curbing greenhouse gas emissions from the roughly $9 billion already promised, while stopping short of saying by how much.

He revealed the plans ahead of his trip to Copenhagen from today to attend the ongoing UN Climate conference.

"While national interests are important, global interests are also very important," Hatoyama told reporters yesterday, saying there is a need for Japan to cajole developing countries into joining the global efforts and bring the talks to a successful conclusion.

"Now that we've declared that (Japan will do) more than before, we will think about taking more financial care than before," he said, without disclosing specific amounts of aid to be increased.

The 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as the talks are formally known, is expected to produce a political deal to set the outlines of a new legal framework to combat climate change, after the first commitment period for developed countries under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

Japan has said it is ready to offer $9.2 billion as near-term aid by 2012 for developing countries, while setting a goal of slashing its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Hatoyama is expected to return to Japan on Saturday.