Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada expressed on Wednesday Japan’s readiness to continue efforts to become a global role model that realizes a virtuous circle for the environment and economic growth.

He made the remarks in a speech at the ongoing 24th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP 24, in Katowice, southern Poland.

Harada explained that Japan has been focusing on a project in which renewable energy and natural resources are locally produced and locally consumed.

“We aim to form a self-reliant society and to shift to high-quality lives and sustainable society,” Harada said.Speech