ASIA
In Asia, we’re fighting the buildout of gas infrastructure and working towards an end to all finance for fossil fuels.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
One of the greatest threats to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement is the buildout of gas infrastructure in Asia. As campaigners move from successful campaigns to stop coal buildout, Oil Change is working with partners across the region and internationally to increase awareness that gas is dirty, expensive and undermines development.
We are working with the Fossil Free Japan coalition to stop Japanese public finance for overseas gas, coal and oil projects and are also working to push the Asian Development Bank to stop financing fossil fuels.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
This week sees two crucial energy meetings in Japan, a country which remains one of the most prominent financiers of fossil fuels.
It’s easy to lose touch with reality at the annual UN climate negotiations, also known as COP. The buzz and energy of tens of thousands of people at the UN’s annual conference focused on one of humanity’s greatest crises is overwhelming. And energizing.
Until you realize that you don’t all share the same intent.
Take Japan, for instance. Its sparkling white pavilion at COP is emblazoned with the slogan “Solutions to the Future.” With their technology prowess, it’s tempting to believe the rhetoric that they have the technologies to solve the climate crisis.
But then you shake off the buzz and
To coincide with the "GX Week" in Japan, a network of civil society groups from across the region and Global South have come together to call for Japan to stop financing false solutions and delaying the just transition to clean energy.
"The EU's new international energy strategy is woefully inadequate and would lock in decades' more extraction of deadly gas and oil," said Collin Rees.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
This briefing, "Japan's Dirty Secret: World's top fossil fuel financier is fueling climate chaos and undermining energy security," reveals that Japan is the world’s largest public financier of fossil fuel projects, providing 10.6 billion USD per year between 2019 and 2021. Japan has been leading the drive to expand gas consumption in Asia and is the world’s leading financier of gas infrastructure globally, spending USD 6.7 billion on gas projects on average each year between 2019 and 2021.
This report looks at G20 country and MDB traceable international public finance for fossil fuels from 2019-2021 and finds they are still backing at least USD 55 billion per year in oil, gas, and coal projects. This is a 35% drop compared to previous years (2016-2018), but still, almost twice the support provided for clean energy, which averaged only $29 billion per year.
Asia is one of the few remaining growth markets for gas. The fossil fuel industry and its proponents are pushing to develop $379 billion of gas terminals, pipelines and power plants in Asia over the next decade. Roughly three-quarters of all Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import terminals in development globally are planned for Asia. This aggressive buildout ignores a simple truth.