2 JAPAN’S ENERGY POLICY AND COMMUNITY POWER …
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forcing citizens into an unpalatable choice between reopening nuclear
plants and constructing coal-fired plants. This is in clear contrast with
Germany, which decided to close all nuclear plants by the end of 2022,
and is also moving to phase out all 84 coal plants by 2038, which provides
35% of electricity, based on the policy recommendation of a government
commission that were released on January 26, 2019 (Vaughan 2019).
Germany is the leader of energy transition in terms of denuclearization
and decarbonization.
The fossil-fuel divestment movement has criticized large Japanese
banks, especially Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, for being the
largest and the second largest lenders in the global banking industry
to coal plant developers (BankTrack 2018). The city of Sendai, only a
few years after the devastation of the 2011 tsunami, approved construction of a new coal-fired power plant in the municipality. The company
constructing the plant cleverly exploited a policy loophole to avoid
making an environmental assessment that would have delayed the project
for an additional two years. In March 2017, another company announced
it was planning another coal plant in Sendai. Subsequently, this project
was converted to a wood biomass-fired plant in reaction to the criticism
received about building another coal-fired plant in Sendai. 3 Citizens are
afraid and angry that this breaks Sendai’s proud coal-free history of the
past 10 years. There are approximately 150,000 residents, and 32 schools
including, 17 primary schools, within a 5-km radius of the proposed
plants, where children will be at risk from fine particulate and NOx pollution. Ignoring the global imperative to fight climate change and transition
to renewables, Japanese corporations that have invested heavily in coal
abroad need an outlet for their dirty fuel. They are taking advantage of
the economically challenged post-tsunami region of Tohoku, specifically
Sendai. The electricity produced will go to Tokyo, profits will go headquarters in large cities, while the air pollution will choke residents locally,
and the climate risk will burden today’s young generation (Hasegawa
2018b).
In September 2017 citizens in Sendai filed a suit against the company
starting to operate a coal-fired power plant in Sendai. Following this
suit, citizens in Kobe and Yokosuka filed suits against companies and
the national government to block the construction of coal-fired plants
in those cities (Hasegawa 2018a).
39
forcing citizens into an unpalatable choice between reopening nuclear
plants and constructing coal-fired plants. This is in clear contrast with
Germany, which decided to close all nuclear plants by the end of 2022,
and is also moving to phase out all 84 coal plants by 2038, which provides
35% of electricity, based on the policy recommendation of a government
commission that were released on January 26, 2019 (Vaughan 2019).
Germany is the leader of energy transition in terms of denuclearization
and decarbonization.
The fossil-fuel divestment movement has criticized large Japanese
banks, especially Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, for being the
largest and the second largest lenders in the global banking industry
to coal plant developers (BankTrack 2018). The city of Sendai, only a
few years after the devastation of the 2011 tsunami, approved construction of a new coal-fired power plant in the municipality. The company
constructing the plant cleverly exploited a policy loophole to avoid
making an environmental assessment that would have delayed the project
for an additional two years. In March 2017, another company announced
it was planning another coal plant in Sendai. Subsequently, this project
was converted to a wood biomass-fired plant in reaction to the criticism
received about building another coal-fired plant in Sendai. 3 Citizens are
afraid and angry that this breaks Sendai’s proud coal-free history of the
past 10 years. There are approximately 150,000 residents, and 32 schools
including, 17 primary schools, within a 5-km radius of the proposed
plants, where children will be at risk from fine particulate and NOx pollution. Ignoring the global imperative to fight climate change and transition
to renewables, Japanese corporations that have invested heavily in coal
abroad need an outlet for their dirty fuel. They are taking advantage of
the economically challenged post-tsunami region of Tohoku, specifically
Sendai. The electricity produced will go to Tokyo, profits will go headquarters in large cities, while the air pollution will choke residents locally,
and the climate risk will burden today’s young generation (Hasegawa
2018b).
In September 2017 citizens in Sendai filed a suit against the company
starting to operate a coal-fired power plant in Sendai. Following this
suit, citizens in Kobe and Yokosuka filed suits against companies and
the national government to block the construction of coal-fired plants
in those cities (Hasegawa 2018a).