For Immediate Release
CONTACT:
Marie Tanao, 350.org Japan: +81-90-2183-2113, [email protected]
350.org Japan launches global petition calling on Japanese Banks to Divest from Dirty Coal
TOKYO April 21, 2018― 350.org Japan launched a global petition calling upon Japan’s three biggest financial institutions — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho FG), and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) — to cease all new lending to coal fired power generation and coal extraction, and make concrete steps to align their finance policies with the Paris Agreement. 350.org co-founder and writer, Bill McKibben assisted in launching the petition at the opening ceremony of the annual Earth Day Tokyo 2018 event.
The petition aims to shed light on the troubling fact that Japan’s largest financial institutions are pouring huge sums of money into coal development across the globe. Their plans clearly put in jeopardy our chances of keeping global warming below 1.5-2 degrees Celsius as established in the Paris Agreement.
In order to meet that threshold, no new coal-fired power plants can be allowed to become operational. This is confirmed by scientific evidence on the current gap between national climate plans and the emissions reductions needed to keep global warming at bay.
According to a research report published by the German NGO Urgewald and Dutch NGO Bank Track “Banks vs the Paris Agreement“, the three financial groups targeted by 350.org Japan’s petition – Mizuho , Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui, are in order the first, second and fifth largest global lenders to 120 of the world’s largest companies currently involved in the development of new coal fired power plants, with a combined capital of nearly $25 billion USD, being poured into coal projects. Overall, according to the report “Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2018”, Japanese financial groups’ policies are ranked among the lowest in terms of their restrictions for coal power and coal mining sectors.
Serious environmental and social impacts of coal-fired power projects funded by Japan’s major financial institutions have also been evidenced in human rights violations and environmental damages reported by local people affected by Batang and Cirebon coal fired power plants in Indonesia, and Vinh Tanh and Vung Ang coal plants in Vietnam, among many others.
350.org Japan Divestment Campaigner Shin Furuno said, “We must keep most coal and all other fossil fuels in the ground to preserve a habitable planet. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, the banks we entrust our money to, are complicit in worsening the climate crisis by supporting the development of new coal-fired power plants worldwide. Consumers have the power to change that. By signing the petition launched today, we can all raise our voices to call on the three major financial groups of Japan to quit coal. Japan has the potential to lead Asia toward a 100% renewable energy future by investing its innovative technologies in sustainable energy sources instead of out-dated coal and fossil fuels.”
MUFG, Mizuho FG and SMFG have recently all signed on to endorse the recommendations of the G20 commissioned Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in which financial institutions will work to disclose how they will take steps to integrate climate-related risks into their investment policies. All three financial institutions are also signatories of the Equator Principles, an international framework where financial institutions agree to assess and manage the environmental and social risks of the projects they finance.
MUFG, Mizuho FG, and SMFG’s unwavering financing for coal is contrary to their commitments to these international frameworks.
Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org added, “Banks in U.S. and Europe are starting to restrict finance for the most carbon intensive fossil fuels, predominantly coal. Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires international banks to immediately stop financing any new coal development and rapidly reduce their exposure to all fossil fuels. Japan’s banks are swimming against the tide with their continued support for coal. Japan’s financial community can take a step in the right direction by first divesting from coal, and transitioning their financing away from fossil fuels towards renewable solutions.”
The petition urges Japan’s major financial groups to provide a substantive response to the demands raised prior to the Global Climate Action Summit and United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Annual Conference to be held from 12-14th September 2018 in California.
350.org Japan together with 6 other supporting organizations aim to collect 10,000 signatures worldwide by late June, when Japan’s major financial groups conduct their annual shareholder meetings.
Notes to Editors:
- Link to actual petition text:
https://dbqvwi2zcv14h.cloudfront.net/images/Petition_Text_Lets_Divest_from_Coal.pdf - Link to 350.org Japan petition:
http://act.350.org/sign/ENG_divest_from_coal/