Days before Japan will host a G7 summit, NGOs slammed the Asian nation for financing coal-powered energy in developing countries, even as other countries and investors shun the climate-damaging fossil fuel.
Within the G7 bloc, Japan stands out for funnelling more than USD 22 billion (20 billion euros) into overseas coal plants since 2007, more than the other six countries combined.
Moreover, the club of rich nation's only Asian member has another USD 10 billion worth of coal projects in the pipeline, according to a report by six environmental groups, including the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC) and WWF.
Japan will host a two-day meeting of the G7 -- which also includes the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy -- starting Thursday in the Ise-shima region.
Germany is second on the list in overseas coal financing, having poured some USD 9 billion into coal-based power over the same period.
"Financing new coal plants and coal development in the era of dangerous climate change is blatantly reckless," Jake Schmidt, the head of the NRDC's international programme yesterday said on the margins of UN climate talks in Bonn.
Such investments "tie developing countries to the fossil fuels of our past, not the clear energy of our future."
Diplomats from 196 nations have gathered in Bonn five months after hammering through a landmark climate pact that seeks to wean the world economy from fossil fuels, by far the main driver of global warming.
Coal is the biggest climate change culprit, generating more carbon pollution per unit of energy generated than oil or gas.
Some 40 per cent of the world's electricity is powered by coal, roughly the same as 40 years ago, according to the International Energy Agency.
China fuelled three decades of double-digit growth mainly with coal, and today accounts for nearly half of world consumption, followed by India.
But both countries have made a massive push to develop renewables and increase energy efficiency, with China's use of coal tapering off in the last two years.
Within the G7, Japan is alone in investing heavily in coal-fired energy on its own soil, with more than 40 new power plants on the drawing board.
Money mainly from Japan and Germany for building coal plants in the developing world since 2007 has gone to South Africa (USD 5 billion), India (USD 5 billion), the Philippines and Indonesia (USD 3 billion each), Vietnam USD 2.5 billion), and a dozen other countries.
