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Japan: Toshiba Pledges To Retreat From Coal-Fired Power Stations In Its Bid Towards Cleaner Environment
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Others/World, 14 Nov 2020 4:48 AM GMT
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The announcement from Toshiba came after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga set a 2050 deadline envisioning Japan to become world's third-largest economy that would be carbon-neutral.
Japanese engineering giant, Toshiba, has pledged that it will not build any coal-fired power plants and would shift to renewable energy in a bid to reduce greenhouse emissions, the company's president announced on Wednesday, November 11.
At the same time, the firm informed that it would not be withdrawing any of its ongoing-projects.
Toshiba's president, Nobuaki Kurumatani, informed that they would stop accepting new orders for building coal-fired plants, and would aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
For achieving this, the company is planning to increase its investment in renewable energy such as infrastructure related to offshore wind-power and solar-power facilities. It also plans to invest in research and development in related fields.
The announcement from Toshiba came after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga set a 2050 deadline envisioning Japan to become world's third-largest economy that would be carbon-neutral.
Toshiba president, Kurumatani, said that there might be business opportunities with the Paris climate accord, which US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin after Trump's withdrawal.
He further informed that they planned to pour the resources into wind power and to produce cutting-edge windmills as well as were eyeing on selling mega solar and hydropower plants.
Germany's player in the energy sector, Siemens Energy and General Electric of the US, have also pledged to stop building new coal-fired power stations.
The move was welcomed by Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organisation, with its climate and energy campaigner Daniel Read calling the news "heartening".
He further said that a complete separation from coal projects, both new and existing projects, and moving wholly to renewables is the only sustainable option left for us that would make sense, both financially and environmentally, in the long term for our planet.
Japan's reliance on coal- fired power plants could be learnt by the fact that nearly a third of its total electricity generation still depends on it. It provides 38 percent of the nation's needs.
A top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said that working towards carbon neutrality would benefit both the economy and environment.
He said that taking steps to address global warming no longer proves to be a hindrance for the growth of companies.
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