Tokyo is hosting the “Japan Energy Summit” this week, from June 3-5th. Even in the hyperbolic world of high-level meetings, this summit has lofty ambitions. It promises to accelerate “Japan’s energy transition through innovation and global connections.”
The disconnect is terrifyingly stark. Last week, the Guardian newspaper reported that the “World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target”, with the planet heading for at least 2.5C of warming “with disastrous results for humanity."
Japan is continuing to drive the expansion of fossil fuels across Asia and is derailing the transition to renewable energy. This harms communities and ecosystems, undermines energy security, and worsens the climate crisis. The facts speak for themselves.
Last month, it was widely reported that another chapter in Shell’s dirty and disastrous eighty-seven-year operations in the Niger Delta was coming to an end, with the company selling its onshore business.
While Manchin and his industry allies spread tired old myths about America saving the world from Putin and Chinese coal plants, the reality is the energy transition is already moving away from gas faster than most people think. That action needs to focus on a phase-out of all fossil fuel exports and protections and reparations for the frontline communities.
Just weeks after the COP28 climate talks finished, it is business as usual for the host country, the United Arab Emirates, in expanding its oil and gas production.
