Japan's pledge not to build any unabated coal-fired power plants does not necessarily mean the country will stop using coal for power generation, with it likely to continue to do so until cleaner fuels such as ammonia are fully deployed.
Japanese premier Fumio Kishida said at the Cop 28 UN climate summit in Dubai on 1 December that Japan will end new construction of domestic unabated coal-fired power plants while securing stable energy supplies. Issues over unabated coal-fired plants should be addressed by each country in the course of the respective pathways to a net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goal reflecting national circumstances, he added.
But in response to Kishida's speech, civil society organisation Oil Change International said on 1 December that it revealed Japan's continued addition to fossil fuels. "Kishida pushed the door open to prolong the use of existing coal plants and ignored oil and gas entirely."
Kishida's commitment specifying unabated coal-fired plants in the pledge points to the government continuing to allow new coal-fired plants with emissions reduction technology, such as ammonia co-firing.
Tokyo has already vowed to phase out existing inefficient coal-fired capacity with less than 42pc efficiency by 2030. This also suggests power producers will be allowed to burn coal with high-efficient technology such as ultra-super critical and integrated gasification combined-cycle infrastructure, along with the expanded mixtures of clean ammonia and installation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
Japan declined to join the France-led initiative Coal Transition Accelerator, which was launched on 2 December at Cop 28 to phase out coal. But Tokyo will co-operate toward decarbonisation in Asia with France and other countries, said an official at Japan's trade and industry ministry. Tokyo will take its own net zero approach through various pathways, he added.
Funding support
Tokyo previously said it will continue providing public finances to overseas — even unabated — fossil fuel projects, as long as it is necessary for its energy security and geopolitical interests, and is in line with the Paris Agreement climate goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Japan is ready to contribute to the expansion of lending capacity totalling around $9bn through the provision of credit enhancements to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, while making contributions to a new fund of the African Development Bank, Kishida said at Cop 28. Japan's commitment to mobilise up to around $70bn climate finance from public and private sources is also on track, Kishida said.
Japanese utilities have accelerated feasibility studies for CCS projects to offset carbon dioxide emissions from thermal power generation and others as part of their decarbonisation drive. But the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) cautions that CCS is not a silver bullet for climate change. The IPCC is clear that CCS and other carbon removal technologies are only to offset hard-to-abate industry and existing fossil fuel infrastructure, rather than to justify fossil fuel expansion.
Ammonia is gaining momentum in Japan's power sector, although this effort is inviting criticism over expansion of fossil fuel-based blue ammonia. Japan's largest power producer by capacity Jera, which plans to use ammonia at a coal-fired plant, has explained it will "substitute" ammonia for coal to reduce the use of the fossil fuel, not intending to "co-fire" both fuels forever.
