Japan is the only G7 country still actively building new coal-fired power plants at home and abroad, and is the second biggest public investor in overseas coal-fired power plant projects among the G20 countries through its public finance agencies (PFAs). Coal is the single worst contributor to global climate change, responsible for almost half the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Most overseas coal power projects supported by Japan employ emission control techniques far inferior to those required at home. In effect, Japan is operating a deadly double standard: Financing coal-fired power plants overseas that create air pollution at levels that would not be accepted in Japan.
Our latest report, A Deadly Double Standard, reveals the deadly consequences of that double standard, in terms of premature deaths caused by air pollution, and evaluates how many of those deaths could be avoided if the projects funded by Japan overseas applied the same emission limits as the new coal power plants in Japan.
End the air pollution crisis once and for all, because no-one should have to worry about what they breathe.