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AsiaElec POLICY AsiaElec

Japan makes plans for

net zero pledge for 2050

JAPAN JAPAN’S government will next week pledge to government aiming to raise this to 22% by 2030.
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net The government’s Strategic Energy Plan also
zero by 2050, Nikkei reported on October 21. wants nuclear energy’s share to rise to 20% by
The goal will be announced by new Prime 2030.
Minister Yoshihide Suga in a speech to lawmak- The new commitment to net zero means
ers, and will include specific measures such as that substantial changes can be expected in the
promoting renewable energy, Nikkei reported. energy policy.
Japan has been criticised for its heavy use of Japan has recently outlined ambitious plans
coal-fired power generation and is the only G7 for offshore wind and hydrogen, while it has
nation still building coal plants at home. reined in its coal plans.
Meeting the net zero target by 2050 will be a In July, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
major challenge for Japan, even though it is fol- Industry (METI) said that it could close 90% of
lowing other G7 industrialised nations such as the 144 power plants built before the mid-1990s.
the UK, Germany and Canada in making these Nevertheless, it is still building coal-fired
commitments. plants at home, whilst also providing the tech-
However, Japan still plans to have coal and gas nology and finance to build coal-fired projects
generating 56% of its power by 2030, well behind in emerging markets in Asia.
the IEA’s recent guidelines for reaching net zero But closing most of the country’s coal plants
by 2050. represents a major change in government policy,
Indeed, coal accounts for 32% of Japan’s as it had previously announced plans to build a
energy supply mix, although the government new generation of coal-fired power plants. The
wants to reduce this to 26% by 2030. country is also still a major funder of coal-fired
Suga’s announcement comes as the Japanese generation projects across Asia.
government is due to conduct a wide-ranging As such, reaching net zero will be a big ask
review of its “basic energy policy” in 2021. for Japan, requiring a major realignment of the
Currently, green energy accounts for 16% country’s energy policy and the rapid retiring of
of the country’s generating mix, with the coal and gas-fired generating capacity.™
COAL

India to close polluting coal power plants

INDIA INDIAN Environment, Forests and Climate “In 2014, while 2.5-3mn people used to travel
Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has said by Metro in Delhi and NCR, today 4.5-5mn
that the government aims to identify and close people commute by Metro. This is a big achieve-
60-70 coal power plants over the next two years ment. The construction of Eastern-Western
as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government Peripheral Expressway has also taken care of
tackles pollution. around 60,000 pollution-causing vehicles that
He said that coal-fired power plants at Badar- used to pass through Delhi. Now, the Metro and
pur and Sonipat near the capital New Delhi had e-buses facilities are being increased in all cities.”
already been shut down. He also said that the Modi government had
Javadekar made the announcement as part of launched the National Air Quality Index for the
wider plans to cut pollution, both in the capital first time since the system was started in 2016.
and in other urban areas. He said the govern- “In the year 2016 while there were 250 days of
ment would concentrate on such issues as traffic, bad air, the count today has come down to 180.”
industry, rubbish, dust and stubble burning as it Javadekar said the cause of pollution in Del-
targets reduced pollution. hi-NCR is also due to geographical factors.
In terms of transport fuel, he said that the “Due slow air-flow, the problem of pollution
government had already invested INR620bn is more in Delhi. The pollution reduces when-
($8.2bn) in promoting the use of low-sulphur ever the wind blows,” he said.
fuel, known as BS-VI, which he said would He also said the Modi government had also
reduce pollution by 25-60%. framed new rules for construction and demo-
He also referred to the efforts to tackle the lition management in 2016 in Delhi to manage
problem of pollution in the national capital pollution.™
through public transport services.

Week 42 21•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7