Japan Press Weekly

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2015 December 2 - 8 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Is nuclear power really needed in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is claiming that a greater use of nuclear energy is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the recent government data has indicated that it is not true.

In 2014, when no nuclear reactor was operating in Japan, the amount of CO2 the country emitted was nearly 50 million tons less than in 2007 when all reactors were active.

The Environment Ministry in late November published data that the amount of Japan’s CO2 emissions in 2014 stood at 1.365 billion tons (preliminary figure), down by 43 million tons from 1.408 billion tons in the previous year, or down by 47 million tons from the record high of 1.412 billion tons in 2007.

Regarding factors contributing to this decrease, the government explained that people’s energy saving efforts lowered power consumption and that a larger percentage of electricity was generated by natural-gas-fired power stations which are more carbon-efficient than coal- or oil-fueled power stations.

Asaoka Mie of the environment NGO Kiko Network said that it is often argued that departure from nuclear power generation inevitably leads to a greater dependence on thermal power generation which results in larger CO2 emissions. However, she went on to say, the latest government data showed that GHG emission reduction is achievable without activating nuclear power plants.

Noting that a further CO2 reduction is called for to curb the devastating effects of climate change, Asaoka stressed that in order to achieve this, the government should take necessary measures, such as the imposition of carbon caps and the introduction of carbon pricing systems.

Past related articles:
> Japan’s new GHG reduction target runs counter to global efforts to tackle climate change [June 3 and 4, 2015]
> Japan’s new target for cutting GHG emissions is too low [May 6, 2015]