Japan ‘Odd One Out’ Among G7 in Move Beyond Coal, E3G Says

(Bloomberg) — Japan ranks last among The Group of Seven
developed nations in making progress toward ending its reliance
on coal power, an environmental group said, urging the country
to call off plans for new coal-powered plants.

The U.S. ranked at the top, followed by France and the
U.K., according to a report released Wednesday by E3G, a non-profit group promoting the low-carbon economy. The group looked
at each country’s plans for new projects and the retirement of
existing plants, as well as international impact through private
sector investment and government finance.

“Japan is the clear odd one out,” the group said in a
statement. “As other major economies move to cleaner forms of
energy generation, Japan risks locking itself into overly
expensive and ultimately stranded asset investments,” the group
said.

Japan has 27 gigawatts of new coal capacity under
development, although construction is yet to begin for most of
that capacity, E3G said.

The U.S. faces the largest challenge because of its
existing coal-power generation capacity, the group said. The
country has 288 gigawatts of coal power, more than double the
total capacity of the other six countries combined.

Still, the U.S. is making the most positive progress among
the seven nations, introducing new policies such as requiring
new coal plants to use carbon capture and storage and leading
global efforts to restrict financing for coal plants without
CCS, according to the report.

All G7 countries should immediately work together to
strengthen conditions for the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, known as OECD, on export credits,
E3G said in the report. 

“This should end financing of unabated coal plants and
shift support to accelerate the deployment of renewables,” it
said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Iain Wilson, Abhay Singh

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