U.S. - Japan Joint Statement on Energy Security, Clean Development, and Climate Change

President Bush and Prime Minister Abe agreed today that confronting the interlinked challenges of energy security, clean development, and climate change requires sustained and effective global action. The United States and Japan are working to ensure that the energy on which our economies depend remains reliable, affordable, and secure by encouraging efficiency, diversity of supply, and advances in technology. At the same time our nations are making meaningful progress in addressing air pollution and greenhouse gases from our power and transportation systems. We remain committed to the ultimate objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, and will further explore the steps forward to this objective.

The United States and Japan are also advancing the clean energy technology needed to change for the better the way we power our homes, businesses, and automobiles. We are accelerating the development and deployment of these technologies by providing policy incentives to reduce the cost barriers to their full commercialization. We especially note the importance of advancing: energy efficiency and renewable energy, alternative and renewable fuels, hydrogen, near-zero emissions coal, nuclear energy, and fusion energy. We will work together to advance our nationally-defined objectives in these areas, taking advantage of a wide range of policy tools and measures including mandatory programs, incentives, and public-private technology partnerships. We will conduct a joint quantitative study on the economic, technological, and climate benefits of energy efficiency, in recognition of the trend toward national energy efficiency goals and programs throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States and Japan will work constructively with our international partners, in particular the major energy consuming nations, to promote the commercialization of advanced clean energy technologies. In this regard, we will also use the G8, the UNFCCC, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, the International Energy Agency, APEC, the Commission of Sustainable Development, and other multilateral partnerships. We reaffirm the goals of the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3R) Initiative set at the G8 Summit at Sea Island in 2004. This includes the reduction of barriers to the international flow of goods and materials for recycling and remanufacturing, recycled and remanufactured products, and cleaner, more efficient technologies, consistent with existing environmental and trade obligations and frameworks. We also note that a report on the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development will be received at the G8 summit meeting to be hosted by Japan in 2008.

We will also endeavor under the Montreal Protocol to ensure the recovery of the ozone layer to pre-1980 levels by accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs in a way that supports energy efficiency and climate change objectives. We will continue to exercise leadership in the development of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

The United States and Japan recognize the value of our bilateral High-Level Consultations on Climate Change and will enhance, strengthen, and streamline that dialogue. The United States will send a delegation of senior-level officials to Japan before the G8 Summit in June to discuss further implementation of this statement.