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October 20, 2023

≫ Tackling climate change in residential and building sectors

Our homes and buildings protect us from the rain, wind, sun, and outdoor hazards, and provide us space for living, working, studying and entertaining. But their use causes the consumption of a vast amount of energy. Here we look at how we can address climate change while improving comfort in the residential and building sectors. […]

July 20, 2023

≫ Hiroshima G7 Summit 2023 – Analysis of the Communiqué

The Group of Seven (G7) Summit was held from May 19 to 21, 2023, in Hiroshima, with Japan as the presidency. Amid the backdrop of an ongoing war that has continued for more than a year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Communiqué included declarations on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the global economy, […]

April 13, 2023

≫ 2023 Japan Climate Calendar Top Ten Highlights

Over a year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The war has shaken the world, leading to increased military defense spending, energy and food crises, and more. Expanded fossil fuel development, exports and imports in countries other than Russia, and huge subsidies for fossil fuels in response to rising energy prices are having exactly the opposite […]

April 4, 2023

≫ What is Green Transformation (GX)?

Green Transformation, better known as “GX,” is an initiative led by the Japanese government to supposedly bring about a shift from an industrial structure centered on fossil energy to one centered on clean energy.[1] It is a centerpiece of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government and GX-related legislation is currently being deliberated in the Diet. […]

December 1, 2022

≫ The Nitrogen Cycle: Negative Impacts of Japan’s Ammonia Power Dreams

Group of Seven (G7) leaders, during the G7 Summit in June in Elmau, Germany, agreed to find solutions to issues such as climate change, a just transition, COVID-19 and gender equality. The leaders also confirmed their determination not to compromise on climate change and biodiversity targets, and to reduce dependence on Russian energy, despite heightened energy and food risks resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, […]

August 18, 2022

≫ Road to Hiroshima 2023 ー Key Takeaways from G7 Summit ー

In Japan, plans are under way to promote the use of fuel ammonia to generate electricity from thermal power generation. This article will focus on nitrogen, an essential component in ammonia production, and look at the impacts of the massive use of ammonia on the natural nitrogen cycle. […]

July 28, 2022

≫ Ammonia use in thermal power generation in Japan

purportedly in an effort to achieve carbon neutrality. There are great expectations for its use as an alternative fuel to coal, particularly in the thermal power sector. Could the use of fuel ammonia really be a key to decarbonization? Ammonia as an alternative fuel to coal? The government is giving its all-out support to expand the use of fuel ammonia with every tool available, from strategic plans, legislation, subsidies, and debt guarantees, to memorandums of understanding with […]

March 31, 2022

≫ 2022 Japan Climate Calendar Top Ten Highlights

What will happen in 2022? The COP26 Glasgow Conference in 2021 (26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) agreed on the goal of effectively limiting the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C. As current national targets, policies and measures fall far short of what is needed to achieve the 1.5°C goal, however, COP26 called on countries to revisit and strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)[…]