TOKYO, April 27 (UPI) -- Japan's $15 billion climate aid to poor and vulnerable nations will depend on their support for the Copenhagen Accord, the environment minister said Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Minister Sakihito Ozawa explained the requirements of the program, which runs through 2012. He said whether the recipient countries have endorsed the Copenhagen climate change accord -- reached at the U.N. conference in December -- would be an "important factor" when distributing aid to help tackle climate change issues, Kyodo News reported.
The aid program can include major greenhouse gas emitters in addition to less developed African and vulnerable island nations, the report said.
Ozawa said other Japanese ministers had demanded the government press China, the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter, to indicate its emissions will likely peak to qualify for the aid.
Japan's aid package is made up of $11 billion in public money and the rest from the private sector, the report said.
Under the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries must set respective greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020, while developing countries must take steps to mitigate climate change, the report said.
