LONDON -- British Special Representative for Climate Change Nick Bridge urged Japan to phase out its coal-fired power plants "as fast as possible" in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, showing a critical attitude toward Japan's policy to continue using some coal-fired plants.
Bridge's comments came ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), to be held in Britain from Oct. 31. Britain and Italy will serve as co-chairs of the event. Bridge has held his current position since 2017, lobbying countries to agree on higher goals.
"Coal is no longer economical, and certainly it's very polluting," he said in an online interview on Aug. 18.
He praised the Group of Seven agreement in June to stop the public financing of new coal projects, a field in which an emissions-reduction policy had not previously been implemented by the G7, and also expressed hope that the advanced nations would reach an agreement at COP26 to target complete abolition by 2030.
Regarding Japan's efforts to become independent from coal, Bridge said: "We're pushing still, asking for a little bit more, on the ability to phase out coal domestically as fast as possible, and to try and put a date on that."
He also said Britain was urging countries, including Japan, to shift to "fully clean zero emissions vehicles," such as electric vehicles, by 2035.
Referring to moves in Britain and the European Union to ban sales of new gasoline vehicles, including hybrids, Bridge said, "There is also a very great risk if they [Japanese automakers] don't move quickly and ambitiously [to go gas-free] that their market share will significantly fall."
COP26 participants will meet in person, under thorough COVID-19 control measures. Leaders from various countries have been invited, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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