(Bloomberg) -- Japan will strengthen its 2030 emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement, amid an effort to become carbon neutral by the middle of the century.

The country aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 compared with 2013, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Thursday ahead of the global climate summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden. Japan had previously targeted a 26% reduction.

The revision comes after Suga pledged in October that the world’s fifth-largest emitter and third-biggest economy will become carbon neutral by 2050. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration is pushing some of the world’s biggest contributors of greenhouse gases to more aggressively curb emissions.

“Responding to climate change will be a driving force of Japan’s economic growth,” Suga said to press in Tokyo. “As a country that supports the world’s manufacturers, we would like to lead the global discussion by setting an ambitious goal.”

While not an official target, Suga said that Japan will challenge itself to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030.

Up to 40 nations are joining Biden’s virtual climate summit Thursday and Friday. White House officials have told supporters they will pledge to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by the end of the decade, according to people familiar with the plans, an almost doubling of the nation’s earlier commitment.

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Japan will need to accelerate the expansion of renewables and restart all of the nuclear power plants idled after the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns to meet Suga’s 2050 climate target, some members of a government panel studying how to decarbonize Japan’s economy have concluded.

The new emissions reduction goal would require Japan to significantly increase the amount of renewable power by 2030, said Takeo Kikkawa, a professor at International University of Japan and a member of a government panel revising the nation’s long-term power mix targets.

“The government will provide support measures to maximize utilization and investment in zero-carbon power sources, such as renewables,” Prime Minister Suga said. “I will task each ministry to accelerate considerations on how to tackle this.”

(Updates with Prime Minister Suga’s comments throughout.)

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