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| Protesters wearing masks of world leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demonstrated against climate change and coal during the G20 summit in Osaka in June 2019 (AFP Photo/Pak YIU) |
Japan said
Thursday it would tighten rules for investment in foreign coal-fired power
stations on environmental grounds, but stopped short of ending government
funding for projects.
The move
comes with the world's third-largest economy under fire for financing projects
to build coal plants at home and abroad -- notably in Southeast Asia.
Economy,
Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama told reporters the government
"has decided to tighten" the rules for supporting investment.
Countries
seeking investment would be required to change their "behaviour"
towards decarbonisation, Kajiyama said, but added that the new policy was not
about cutting back funding.
"There
are developing nations in the world that can only choose coal as an energy
source," he said.
Further
details were not immediately available.
The
government currently provides funding to Japanese companies if their projects meet
certain criteria -- such as when a foreign country has no options but to choose
coal due to economic reasons.
Major
decision
The Global
Energy Monitor watchdog said last year that Japan accounted for over US$4.8
billion in financing for coal power plants abroad -- particularly in Indonesia,
Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Kimiko
Hirata, international director of the environmental NGO Kiko Network, said the
new investment decision was a "major decision."
"The
coal-fired power stations were the pillar of infrastructure exports for
Japan," she told AFP.
But
Greenpeace criticised the decision as falling short, saying it showed "no
clear policy".
Last week,
the government promised to study ways of phasing out older, more polluting
coal-fired power stations by 2030, following reports it plans to mothball
around 100 ageing plants.
Japan has
some 140 coal-fired power stations, providing nearly one-third of the nation's
total electricity generation, and second only to LNG-fired plants.
But there
are more than a dozen projects underway to build more plants -- despite efforts
to phase them out in many other parts of the world.
The
appetite for coal-fired plants increased significantly after the Fukushima
nuclear power plant accident following the 2011 tsunami.
Japan wants
nearly a quarter of its energy needs to be met by renewable sources --
including wind and solar -- by 2030, a figure critics describe as unambitious
based on current levels of around 17 percent.
