Japan's Idemitsu, Kyushu Elec, Tokyo Gas scrap coal-fired power plant plan
31/01/2019 11:51
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Idemitsu Kosan 5019.T ,
Kyushu Electric Power 9508.T and Tokyo Gas 9531.T said on
Thursday they have given up their plan to build a 2 gigawatt
(GW) coal-fired power station in Chiba, near Tokyo, as it would
not be economically feasible.
The move follows a similar decision by Chugoku Electric
Power 9504.T and JFE Steel, a unit of JFE Holdings 5411.T
last month, and comes amid growing pressure in most of the world
for companies to divest coal assets due to environmental
concerns. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YW2JU
Burning coal to generate power produces large quantities of
carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases responsible
for climate change. An international agreement reached in Paris
in 2015 committed signatories to cutting fossil fuel use.
Kyushu Electric and Tokyo Gas said instead they will
consider building a gas-fired power plant, using liquefied
natural gas (LNG), at the same site owned by Idemitsu.
Tokyo Gas President & CEO Takashi Uchida said earlier this
week that the three companies would make a final decision by the
end of March. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1ZS3AK
In 2017, Kouichi Yamamoto, Japan's environment minister at
the time, warned that Japan may not achieve its carbon emissions
target if local companies' plans to build 41 new coal-fired
power stations push ahead, underlining Tokyo's struggle to meet
globally agreed goals to halt climate change.
Amid growing pressure, Japan's trading house Marubeni Corp
8002.T said last year that it would no longer start new
coal-fired power plant projects and would halve its net coal
power generating capacity of about 3 GW by 2030 to help cut
greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global climate change.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1W441M
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1798; Reuters
Messaging: yuka.obayashi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))