Japan creates $19bn green fund to push hydrogen planes and carbon recycling

"Our country needs a source of growth post-coronavirus," he said. "The core of that will be green and digital." Suga vowed to boost the economy through green investment and digital innovation.

The fund would "continue to support companies engaged in ambitious innovation [in environmental areas] for the next 10 years," he pledged.

"We see hydrogen, of which there is inexhaustible deposits, as a new power source," Suga said. "We will create hydrogen airplanes and hydrogen cargo ships."