Solidarity and Strength: Asia-Pacific Unites Against Japan’s AZEC Greenwashing

From the National Diet building in Tokyo to the Japan embassies in Manila and Jakarta, and to the streets of  Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, a unified movement emerged with one powerful message: we will not allow Japan to hijack our energy future through AZEC. The Global Days of Action against Japan’s Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC) mobilized civil society across the Asia-Pacific region.

It was a declaration of regional solidarity and a demonstration of the collective power across the region to protect our climate and communities. The target was Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and regional leaders meeting at the AZEC Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26th.

What Is AZEC And Why Are We Fighting It?

AZEC was launched by Japan as a regional platform supposedly to help Asian nations achieve net-zero emissions. Yet AZEC has become a vehicle for Japan to promote fossil gas as a “transition fuel” and fossil fuel technologies like ammonia and carbon capture and storage (CCS) as climate solutions – all of which lock countries into prolonged fossil fuel dependence instead of accelerating the shift to proven renewable energy technologies like solar and wind. Rather than supporting Asia-Pacific nations to harness its immense renewable energy potential, AZEC risks trapping the region in expensive, polluting infrastructure that serves Japanese corporate interests while our communities pay the price through worsening climate disasters and the impacts of harmful fossil fuel infrastructure development.

Unstoppable Momentum for a Rapid and Just Energy Transition 

Civil society took to the streets to deliver a clear message: AZEC must become a genuine platform for promoting renewable energy, not a vehicle to prolong fossil fuels.

The coordinated action conveyed the messages signed by 36 organizations across Asia-Pacific in a joint statement addressed to the Japanese government, timed strategically ahead of the AZEC leaders’ summit. The statement directly addresses Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with an urgent call to redirect AZEC toward authentic climate leadership.

In the Philippines, groups led by Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) staged a protest in front of the Japanese embassy. Their message was clear: Filipino communities devastated by typhoons and rising seas will not stand by while Japan promotes the very fossil fuels driving climate catastrophe.

(Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development)

In Malaysia where the AZEC Summit was held, activists led by Artivist Network delivered a statement: Japan’s AZEC should not legitimize carbon dumping on their communities, as Japan’s CCS strategy aims to do with its carbon waste.

(The Artivist Network, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Oil Change International)

In Indonesia, several actions were spread across different days to reject Japan’s attempt to lock their nation into decades more of fossil fuel dependence. The Don’t Gas Indonesia Network –coordinated by KruHa– held actions in several cities from Karawang to Bali. In Jakarta, Walhi Nasional, Walhi Jakarta, Celios, Greenpeace Indonesia, Jatam, Trend Asia and AEER, held peaceful protests in front of the Japanese embassy.

(Don’t Gas Indonesia – October 11, Jakarta)

(Don’t Gas Indonesia – October 16, Karawang )

(Don’t Gas Indonesia – October 16, Kedung)

(Don’t Gas Indonesia – October 25, Bali)

(Walhi Nasional, Walhi Jakarta, Celios, Greenpeace Indonesia, AEER, Trend Asia, Jatam – October 27)

In Japan, groups took their opposition directly to the heart of power in Tokyo. Japanese civil society is standing up against their own government’s export of fossil fuel infrastructure, showing that the fight for climate justice transcends borders.

(Oil Change International, JACSES, Friends of the Earth Japan, Mekong Watch) 

In Australia, organizers expressed their solidarity through several actions in Canberra, Darwin, and Sydney. This connects the dots between Japan’s AZEC agenda and its impacts to sacred aboriginal lands currently devastated by gas projects funded by Japan.

(People’s Climate Assembly – Canberra)

(Jubilee Australia Research Centre- Darwin)

(Jubilee, Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, Knitting Nannas, Australian Conservation Foundation – Sydney)

Diverse Movements, United Opposition

The coordination across five countries, multiple time zones, and diverse movements represents a regional resistance network that refuses to be divided or silenced. The united front of civil society has organized, strategized, and mobilized together to confront Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi and AZEC leaders. 

Organizations across Asia Pacific dedicated their time, energy, and passion to this week of action. They took to the streets. They protested in front of embassies. They engaged with parliamentarians in Malaysia who shared their concerns. They published analyses exposing AZEC’s greenwashing. All of this happened because people across the Asia-Pacific recognize what’s at stake and are willing to fight back.

The Path Forward

The 36 organizations demand that Japan: 

• End support for fossil-based technologies such as LNG, ammonia/hydrogen co-firing, biomass, and carbon capture and storage
• Redirect public finance as grants toward scaling up community-based renewables, alongside energy efficiency.
• Respect communities and ecosystems, ensuring that ASEAN is not used as an outlet for Japan’s carbon waste or outdated technologies.

A Defining Moment

The Global Days of Action shows civil society across the Asia-Pacific is watching and organizing to stop Japan from derailing the region’s energy transition. From grassroots activists to parliamentarians, from frontline communities to researchers, a regional movement demands AZEC live up to its “zero emissions” name.

The coordinated actions against Japan’s AZEC is proof that when we organize across borders, when we center solidarity, when we call to make community-centered renewables to be at the heart of energy transition, and when we refuse to accept false solutions, we become a force that cannot be ignored.