TOKYO – Japan pledged financial and technological support on Saturday to help ASEAN countries accelerate their efforts to decarbonise their economies and combat climate change, Reuters reported.

Japan hopes to become the world's leading hydrogen economy to reduce dependence on traditional polluting fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

As the chair of the Group of Seven nations (G7) this year, Japan will hold a ministerial meeting on climate, energy, and environment in Sapporo on April 15th-16th, ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19th-21st, to promote what it calls realistic energy transition.

"Japan will take a lead in providing generous support in finance, technology, and personal resources to help Asia's decarbonisation," Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told the first ministerial meeting of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

The AZEC was proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year with the aim of sharing the philosophy of promoting decarbonisation in Asian nations and cooperating to push forward the energy transition.