November 4, 2024

Contacts
GreenFaith Japan: Yoshiro Sada, yoshiro@greenfaith.org
GreenFaith: The Rev. Fletcher Harper, +1-201-390-0094, fletcher@greenfaith.org 

PRESS RELEASE

GreenFaith’s global office joined GreenFaith Japan in criticizing a recent decision by the  Supreme Court of Japan which will allow development to proceed on the New Yokosuka Thermal Power Plant Units 1 and 2. 

“This decision is unfair to local community members whose health will be endangered by this new facility,” said the Rev. Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith’s global Executive Director, based in New York. “In addition, this decision again calls into question Japan’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, as there can be no new fossil fuel development if the world is to respect the Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature rise limit.”

This large-scale coal-fired power plant, with a capacity of 1.3 million kW, will emit 7.26 million tons of CO2 per year, more than the oil-fired power plant which currently operates on the same site. 48 local residents sued in the Tokyo District Court, arguing that a new environmental impact assessment was necessary because the facility was shifting from oil to coal, the most heavily polluting of all greenhouse gasses. “GreenFaith agrees with local community members that this new project is not simply a replacement plant,” said Yoshiro Sada, GreenFaith Japan Senior Advisor. “We admire the effort that local residents have made and look forward to working with them and other Japanese climate defenders in the future.”

GreenFaith is an international, multi-faith, grassroots climate change organization with staff in 12 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Recently, GreenFaith’s Japan and Indonesia teams organized meetings for eight Japanese religious leaders at the site of a coal plant in Indramayu, Indonesia where Japan’s government was considering support for an expansion. Participants learned about the negative impact of this plant on community members and how local community members successfully pressured Japan’s government to withdraw from the project. The religious leaders are now communicating with their members in Japan, raising awareness about the need for a change in Japan’s climate change policy.