The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Japan has won another "honor" at the conference. According to Xinhua News Agency, the international environmental protection group "Climate Action Network" awarded Japan the ironic "Fossil Award" during the Dubai Climate Conference on December 3, criticizing Japan for promising to "contribute to global decarbonization" but focusing on the development of thermal power stations.
The "Climate Action Network" selects the countries with the slowest and most negative actions to respond to climate change to award the "Fossil Prize", and awards it multiple times during each United Nations Climate Change Conference. Previously, Japan has won the "Fossil Award" consecutively at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2019, 2021 and 2022. With this time, it has been "awarded" for the fourth time in a row.
The "Fossil Award" only has a simulated award ceremony. But even so, Japan's Kyodo News Agency also described the award as "disgraceful."
Japan is a frequent visitor to the Fossil Prize
In the first list of "winners" announced by the "Climate Action Network" on December 3, in addition to Japan, New Zealand and the United States were also selected. Among them, the United States is a frequent winner of the "Fossil Award", but Japan is even better than it.
As early as 2011, Japan was the winner of the "Fossil Award". In 2012, Japan and other countries followed the United States and formed an "umbrella group", refusing to participate in the negotiations for the second commitment period (2013-2020) of the Kyoto Protocol, and won this award again at the Doha Climate Conference.
The most peculiar year is 2013. The reason why Japan won the award that year was that the Japanese government announced a new target for greenhouse gas emissions, which was a significant setback compared with the 2009 target. From the original commitment to reduce emissions by 25% by 2020 compared with 1990, it became a 3.1% increase in emissions. Japan’s “award-winning” this year is well-deserved.
In 2014 and 2016, Japan won multiple "awards" for building 50 new coal-fired power plants in the country and assisting in the construction of coal power plants in Indonesia.
In 2017, developed countries collectively won the "Fossil Award", and Japan did not escape. Since then, in 2019, 2021, and 2022, Japan has ranked first in the world in public expenditure on coal and other fossil fuels, and has been ranked first again and again.
It can be said that it is not news that Japan won the "award", but it is news that Japan did not win the "award".
▲On December 3, people took a group photo next to the conference logo in the "Green Zone" of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
"Award-winning" for "new ideas" in reducing emissions
Compared with before, the reason why Japan won the award this time is more ironic. This time, Japan won the "award" for its vigorous promotion of so-called new ideas for emission reduction.
The new idea is to develop ammonia fuel. Japan has vigorously developed hydrogen energy in the past, but due to the high cost of hydrogen energy storage and transportation, Japan's hydrogen energy strategy was not successful.
Starting from 2021, Japan has changed its thinking and regarded ammonia as its main direction of attack. Ammonia can store hydrogen and is easily liquefied for transportation. In addition, Japan is not highly dependent on external sources for ammonia. Japan has determined that carbon emissions can be effectively reduced by using ammonia fuel together with fossil fuels such as coal.
At the Dubai Climate Conference Summit on December 1, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida specifically promoted new emission reduction ideas for ammonia-coal co-firing.
It’s okay not to publicize it. Such publicity gives the “Climate Action Network” a reason to award the award. The Climate Action Network said in a statement that burning hydrogen and ammonia with fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas may seem environmentally friendly, but in fact it extends the life of thermal power plants and will delay the transition to renewable energy in Asia.
The Climate Action Network described this new technology that Japan is proud of as "greenwashing."
This is really not just what the Climate Action Network is saying. In fact, since Japan began to promote ammonia-coal co-firing in 2021, even other members of the Group of Seven (G7) have expressed doubts.
At the G7 Environment Ministers’ Meeting held in Sapporo, Japan, in April this year, Japan hoped to directly list ammonia fuel and hydrogen fuel as low-carbon fuels in the communiqué.
This was to get the G7 countries to endorse Japan's so-called new technology, but it was opposed by the UK, France and Canada.
▲Nuclear sewage water storage tank at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Bet-based emission reductions are not recognized
Compared with other countries in the world, Japan's approach to emission reduction can be said to be unconventional. First, it desperately developed hydrogen energy, then it desperately pursued ammonia energy, and then it ignored the objections of neighboring countries and allowed nuclear-contaminated water to be discharged into the sea.
Japan’s approach to emission reduction is betting and stud reduction. This is caused by many reasons.
Before the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by Japan's great earthquake, nuclear power still accounted for about 25% of total power generation. However, after the nuclear disaster, 48 nuclear reactors in Japan were shut down. By 2014, nuclear power dropped to zero, and the share of fossil energy increased rapidly. This is the reason why Japan significantly set back its new emission reduction target in 2013 and built large-scale coal power plants in 2014. For this reason, Japan has continuously won awards at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
On the other hand, Japan's energy strategy has become increasingly politicized, which has also led to its wavering. During the Trump era, Japan was half-hearted about the Kyoto Protocol. During the Biden era, Japan actively joined the "Indo-Pacific Green Alliance" system under the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" to drive the pace of energy transformation in the Asia-Pacific region. Discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is one of the manifestations of forcing the pace. Japan's approach is difficult to be recognized by neighboring countries, and it also affects Japan's international cooperation in new energy fields such as photovoltaics.
At the COP28 meeting, Kishida Fumio also mentioned the Asian Zero Emissions Community composed of Japan, Australia and the nine ASEAN countries except Myanmar, saying that a summit will be held this month. Kishida also said that Japan looks forward to "playing a leadership role in the international community." In recent years, Japan has continued to build momentum on various international occasions, including COP28. But perhaps a more pragmatic approach is to think about how to stop winning the "Fossil Award" all the time.