Jan 16, 2021 When Yoshihide Suga declared in October that Japan would be carbon neutral by 2050, he became the first Japanese prime minister to set a specific timeline in the country’s bid to become emissions free. As ambitious as Suga’s pledge may be, it’s far from being a pipe dream. The world is slowly taking concrete steps to address the climate crisis, and Japan simply can ill afford to sit on the sidelines any longer. Japan is as vulnerable to climate change as any other country in the world. Its 2019 typhoon season was the costliest on record, closely followed by 2018. What’s more, scorching heat waves hospitalized thousands across the country in 2018 and 2019, while record rainfall in this period forced millions to evacuate from their homes.