Following the abdication of Emperor Akihito, Japan announced that its new imperial era would be called Reiwa ("beautiful harmony"). But if the era is to live up to its name, the government must follow the lead of the country's energy investors and utilities and begin to exit coal and move into renewables.
The choice between continuing to waste capital on environmentally destructive coal in the coming decades and ushering in a new era of clean energy that taps Japan's huge solar and wind power potential should be a no-brainer. It has been shown time and again that carbon-capture technology is nowhere near where it needs to be to deliver "clean" coal power. Even with the most efficient coal plants, we would blow past internationally agreed emissions targets, with devastating consequences for the planet and human welfare.
But powerful groups linked to the Keidanren business lobby continue to fight for coal. And the government seems to be bowing to the pressure: Japan is currently the only Group of Seven country that is adding to its domestic coal power-generation capacity, with roughly 45 new coal plants in the pipeline as of 2017. Moreover, Japan is among the biggest financiers of foreign coal projects.
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