Climate protesters gathered on the steps of the Japanese Consulate on May 17, in response to the G7 ministers’ meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo, Japan, in April.
A statement from Friends of the Earth, Japan (FoE Japan) was read out. It criticised the Japanese government’s “commitment to achieving a decarbonised power sector by 2035”. The activists called for the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels to be accelerated.
Protesters expressed confusion over the Japanese government’s alleged support for fossil fuels to be phased out and its continuing investment in coal and gas projects in Asia and Australia.
Japan was the world’s largest provider for fossil fuel funding from 2020-2022.
FoE Japan encouraged Australians to “put pressure on the Japanese government and Japanese corporations that are still running fossil fuel projects in Asia and Australia by holding a protest and showing solidarity during the G7 summit”.
“We need to strengthen our international cooperation to make Japan completely withdraw from all of their fossil fuel projects and financial supports,” the environment NGO said.