Japan is slashing its greenhouse gas reduction goals in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, which has caused the country to replace its nuclear power with coal, natural gas and other greenhouse-gas emitting forms of energy.

Instead of reducing greenhouse gases by 25 percent from their 1990 levels, Japan's goals will aim for a 3 percent rise over those levels, which is a 3.8 percent reduction from 2005 levels. All of the country's nuclear power plants are currently idle for scheduled maintenance checks, and the new estimates rely on no nuclear power in the future.

Before the accident, caused by the massive tsunami that inundated the coast in 2011, the country's sole plan for achieving greenhouse gas reductions focused on nuclear power. "Our government has been saying ... that the 25 percent reduction target was totally unfounded and wasn't feasible," government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, according to the BBC.

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