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January 15, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Solar panels and a coal-fired power station in Fukushima Prefecture. Japan has not set a clear path for phasing out coal and its new draft energy plan foresees an important role for fossil fuels, especially gas, and nuclear power in its future energy mix.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2025
Japan’s energy plans endanger real climate solutions
The government's draft energy plans were not subject to open debate and their outcome shows an insufficient commitment to making the changes needed to tackle climate change.
Climate scientists say that global warming is making extreme weather events more frequent and intense.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2025
2024 hottest recorded year, crossed global warming limit
Excess heat is supercharging extreme weather, and 2024 saw countries all over the world suffer disasters that cost more than $300 billion.
A demonstrator holds a banner with the image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Tijuana, Mexico, on Dec. 18.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / ANALYSIS
Jan 11, 2025
Politics, not climate, to drive sustainable finance trends in 2025
The return of Donald Trump as U.S. president heralds more regional divergence on everything from fund flows to legal cases and market regulations.
The sun sets over the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, near Furnace Creek, during a heat wave impacting Southern California in July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 10, 2025
Record heat pushed 2024 above global warming threshold of 1.5 C
A clear acceleration in rising temperatures has puzzled scientists, even as the evidence of the fast-warming atmosphere became impossible to miss.
In November, BlackRock and rivals were sued by Texas and 10 other Republican-led states that claimed their activism cut coal production and boosted energy prices.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2025
BlackRock quits climate group as Wall Street lowers environmental profile
The world's biggest asset manager is the latest Wall Street firm to depart an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan greet each other before their U.S. presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 1980.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2025
What if Reagan's vision had been more like Carter's?
Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy.
A Tesla showroom in Beijing in January 2024. In today's world, the car isn’t the biggest moneymaker for automakers; instead, it is the services attached to the connected vehicle.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025
China’s EVs may change the world in unimaginable ways
China has about 100 EV brands and they claim about 80% of the new electric vehicle market.
A pedestrian walks past air conditioning units in Tokyo in July. The year 2024 was the hottest for Japan since records began, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2025
Japan says 2024 hottest year on record
The average temperatures from January through December were 1.48 degrees Celsius higher than the 1991-2020 average, according to the Meteorological Agency.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 13. Trump’s presidency is expected to disrupt U.S. energy transition efforts through weakened policies and heightened trade tensions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2025
Can Biden’s green boom survive Trump’s wrecking ball?
The incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump promises to undo at least some of the progress made on decarbonization under President Joe Biden.
A maintenance worker inspects solar panels at a power plant in southern India.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 6, 2025
Where the smart climate tech venture money is going in 2025
The prospect of more trade wars is scrambling the economy in ways that will determine which climate tech sectors to bet on.
Ritsumeikan University researchers succeeded in completely breaking down PFAS compounds, often called "forever chemicals" for their persistence in the environment.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 5, 2025
Japanese researchers develop method to break down PFAS 'forever chemicals'
Ritsumeikan University researchers succeeded in completely breaking down perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS.
Solar panels, which typically last 20 to 30 years, will begin to reach the end of their service life in the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025
Disposal of used solar panels emerging as challenge in Japan
The annual amount of solar panels discarded as waste is seen peaking at some 500,000 tons in the early 2040s, putting a major strain on industrial waste treatment facilities.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision will further burnish his climate credentials, deepening his record of fostering conservation and zero-emission energy.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 4, 2025
Biden to ban new oil drilling over vast stretch of U.S. Atlantic and Pacific waters
The move represents a sweeping effort to permanently protect coastal waters from fossil fuel development and the risk of oil spills.
Then-economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura marks the opening of the carbon credit market at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2023. The GX League, which includes the emissions trading system, already covers over half of Japan’s emissions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 3, 2025
Japan poised to lead in a brighter carbon market era
The patchy, voluntary nature of carbon markets around the world is finally changing after world leaders agreed to a new system for trading emissions reductions across borders.
Climate demonstrators protest against investments in fossil fuels during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington on Oct. 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 30, 2024
After a year of hard climate talks, ‘minilateralism’ is an alternative
Global environmental agreements have never been simple, but a variety of factors, such as political polarization, make countries less willing to compromise.
Indonesia's plan to increase biodiesel mandates to 50% by 2028 could require clearing 5.3 million hectares of forest for palm oil plantations by 2042, an area larger than Denmark.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024
The year’s worst climate news you haven’t heard about
Not enough floodwaters for dams, more coal burning and demand for Indonesian palm oil show efforts to slow global warming are flagging.
For the 20 Questions column this year, writers asked their interview subjects about everything from their lives in Japan to their thoughts on news topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2024
There were plenty of hot topics to opine on in 2024
We take a look back at some of the best answers that our interviewees gave for 20 Questions from throughout the year.
Storage tanks at the BP Cherry Point Refinery near Blaine, Washington
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2024
Big Oil backtracks on renewables push as climate agenda falters
The likes of BP and Shell this year sharply slowed their plans to spend billions on wind and solar power projects.
Greenpeace activists protest nuclear power in Berlin in April 2023, just as Germany was shutting down its three remaining nuclear power plants. 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024
It's time for Germany to admit its mistake on nuclear energy
The main thing standing in the way of Germany rebuilding its nuclear sector is a stubborn insistence that it can’t be done.
Volunteers place eelgrass seeds on slabs of agar gel with tweezers during an event in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 9.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Seagrass bed restoration work spreads in Miyagi Prefecture
Seagrass and seaweed beds are capturing global attention as they absorb carbon dioxide.
Strong quake strikes southwestern Japan
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck southwestern Japan at 9:19 p.m. on Monday evening
Japanese companies rush to up English-language disclosures in 2025
The Tokyo Stock Exchange will soon require some companies to publish their financials in English in addition to Japanese.
Osaka Expo kicks off pavilion reservation lottery amid sales concerns
The mascot character of the Osaka Expo promotes the event at Tokyo's Haneda Airport last week.
Japan top diplomat visits South Korea amid political turmoil in Seoul
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (left) and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, shake hands during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday.
Japan farm ministry aims to dispatch corporate workers to rural areas
To counter the impact of aging rural demographics, the agriculture ministry is introducing a new initiative to dispatch corporate personnel to rural areas to increase the number of people engaged with farming communities.
Japanese companies rush to up English-language disclosures in 2025
The Tokyo Stock Exchange will soon require some companies to publish their financials in English in addition to Japanese.
From wrath to radiance: Why the 'Manyoshu' feels like paradise lost
The entrance gate to Arakura Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, with Mount Fuji in the distance.
Due north: Foreign-born guides introduce Hokkaido’s unique charms
Lantoko, a company operated by Taiwan native Ping-Fang Lan, offers drift ice walking tours and other exhilarating experiences in and around Shiretoko National Park.
30 minutes with Yuzuru Hanyu
Yuzuru Hanyu smiles during an interview in his hometown of Sendai in between performances of his latest tour, Ice Story.
Disaster-hardened Japan faces enormous costs from climate change
Rescue workers search a flooded area during the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, which caused severe floods at the Chikuma River, in the city of Nagano in October 2019.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever
Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

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