Toshiba will not be building any more coal fired power plants and will shift to renewable energy in a bid to reduce greenhouse emissions. None of its existing coal power construction projects will be scrapped.
Nobuaki Kurumatani, President, Toshiba, said, “We will stop accepting new orders to build coal-fired plants and seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.” The company will increase investment in renewable energy, he said, including infrastructure for offshore wind-power and solar-power facilities and research and development in related fields.
The announcement comes just weeks after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga set a 2050 deadline for the world’s third-largest economy to become carbon-neutral. Suga’s target date firmed up the country’s previous climate-change commitments, as it plays catch-up with similar pledges made by other major economies.
Kurumatani said business opportunities could arise from the Paris climate accord, which US President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to re-join after Donald Trump’s withdrawal. As well as selling mega solar and hydropower plants, “we plan to pour our resources into wind power and to produce cutting-edge windmills”, the Toshiba boss said.
Japan, which is a signatory to the Paris agreement, has struggled to cut carbon emissions after shutting down reactors after the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Reliance on fossil fuels such as coal increased after that as public anger over the accident pushed all of the country’s reactors offline temporarily. Their 140 coal-fired power plants provide nearly a third of its total electricity generation. Coal is the second-biggest power-generation method behind LNG-fired plants, which provide 38% of the nation’s needs.
