Japan Press Weekly

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2015 November 25 - December 1 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japan’s plan to build 48 new coal-fired power plants contradicts global efforts to combat climate change

Going against international efforts for a post-carbon future, 48 coal-fueled power plants are planned or are already being constructed in Japan, the environmental NGO Kiko Network has revealed.

Kiko Network has been keeping an eye on how utilities use coal since the group’s founding in 1998. It launched this week a website titled, “Japan Coal Plant Tracker”, which shows that the number of planned coal-fired thermal power plants in Japan is 48, and that these plants combined are capable of generating 23.5 million kW of power. If these plants are completed and go into operation, they will emit a total of 141 million tons of CO2 a year, the NGO estimates.

Kiko Network director Hirata Kimiko said to Akahata that a coal-fueled power plant emits two times more CO2 per kWh than a natural-gas-fueled plant does. She went on to say that the international community casts a critical eye on Japan which still favors coal as other advanced economies are moving to depart from fossil fuels to mitigate the catastrophic consequences related to climate change.

Hirata stressed that Japan’s geographic conditions are suitable for renewable power generation and the country can generate enough electricity through solar, wind, biomass, and small-sized water power plants to meet all its needs. She concluded that it is essential for Japan to search for a way to create a sustainable society free from coal and nuclear power.

The Japanese Communist Party in June 2011, three months after the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, issued a policy proposal for an immediate break with nuclear power generation and toward all-out promotion of renewable energy. The JCP has been working hard to achieve the proposed goals.

Past related articles:
> JCP calls for full-scale shift to renewable energy [June 14, 2011]