Civil society reactions to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s speech at COP28

Today, at COP28 World Leaders’ Summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that unabated coal-fired power plants should be addressed within the context of each country’s own pathway to net-zero. He also highlighted Japan’s support of the “Asia Zero Emission Community and said Japan will help increase the World Bank and ADB’s lending capacity by about $9 billion.

In response to Japanese Prime Minister’ Fumio Kishida’s COP28 speech:

Susanne Wong, Asia Program Manager at Oil Change International said:
“Prime Minister Kishida’s speech revealed Japan’s continued addiction to fossil fuels. Instead of committing to a fossil fuel phase out, Kishida pushed the door open to prolong the use of existing coal plants and ignored oil and gas entirely. Instead of helping governments shift to renewable energy, Prime Minister Kishida is promoting dangerous distractions across Asia and globally like LNG, ammonia, hydrogen, and CCS that will prolong the use of fossil fuels and worsen the climate crisis. It’s way past time for Japan to say “sayonara” to fossil fuels.”

Ayumi Fukakusa, Deputy Executive Director, Friends of the Earth Japan said:
”It is a shame that Prime Minister Kishida failed to show up with meaningful climate action. We don’t need more empty words that prolong the use of dirty coal. Japan must come up with a clear timeline for the phase out of all existing coal power plants domestically and support a fair, fast, equitable and funded transition to renewable energy. This is long overdue for Japan.

“Japan is still financing fossil fuel projects abroad and promoting false solutions such as CCS, ammonia and hydrogen. As a developed country, Japan is already hugely responsible for the climate crisis yet they are fueling the climate crisis further by financing new fossil projects. This is in violation of their G7 commitment. Japan must start phasing out fossil fuels at home and stop financing dirty energy projects overseas now.”

Masayoshi Iyoda, Japan Campaigner, 350.org said:
“Japan has a responsibility to support mitigation commitments such as the phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP28, not only for supporting tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency. Japan should not play the role of a merchant of false solutions such as ammonia co-firing with dirty coal, risky nuclear, and CCS/CCUS in the Asia region and anywhere in the world. It is nothing more than a dangerous distraction.” ”