Australia and Japan, although directly affected by the rising waters of the Pacific, continue to rely on coal

COP28, which will end on Tuesday December 12, still does not see a major agreement emerging regarding the end of the use of fossil fuels. While Australia, a major exporter, prefers to sign a climate asylum right, Japan is banking on “technosolutionism”.

In these final days of negotiations for the COP28 in Dubai, which will close on Tuesday December 12, some countries would like the roadmap to include the exit, or at least the reduction, of the use of fossil fuels. This is not a priori the position that Australia, whose Minister of Global Warming and Energy has just arrived in Dubai, will defend, nor that of Japan, which is banking on a future technology making coal-fired power stations more virtuous.

Four new coal mines in Australia and asylum for Tuvalu

Australia is the world’s third largest exporter of fossil fuels, notably coal and natural gas. Furthermore, Australia alone represents 1% of global CO2 emissions, which is colossal for a country of only 25 million inhabitants. The government, since its election in 2022, has constantly repeated that it takes the issue of climate change seriously, but has nevertheless authorized the opening of four new coal mines. He committed, at the COP, with around a hundred other countries, to tripling Australia’s green energy capacities by 2030, and recently launched a vast investment plan in this sense. But giving up coal and gas, at least selling them abroad, is absolutely out of the question at this stage.

This positioning goes down rather poorly among the Pacific island nations, neighbors of Australia, which are most directly threatened by global warming and rising sea levels. For example, the small archipelago of Tuvalu could be completely submerged by the end of the century, and Australia has even just signed the first climate asylum agreement. All Tuvalais will be able to emigrate to Australia, but in return, the country has had to give up its sovereignty, since the Australians will have a right of veto on all questions relating to Defense, strategic infrastructure or cybersecurity. The reception of this agreement was therefore rather mixed. The region’s leaders believe that rather than giving them a lifeline over which they will not have total control, it would be better to stop sinking the boat. This is also a condition that they have placed on Australia, which would like to organize COP31 with these small Pacific countries: if Canberra wishes to obtain their support, it will have to give up exploiting coal and gas.

Japan wants to produce and even export with revolutionary ammonia-based technology

In Japan, since the Fukushima accident, nuclear energy is struggling and the country is not ready to abandon coal by 2030, as President Emmanuel Macron has asked the G7 countries. Another 28% of Japan’s electricity is produced in coal-fired power plants. Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura explains that he knows very well that coal-fired power plants emit a lot of CO2: “Our basic policy is to reduce the share of coal in electricity generation as much as possible, bearing in mind the need for a stable supply”. For him, “a brutal reduction” East “risky”, because there is nothing to replace. Yet Japan has promised carbon neutrality by 2050, but the Japanese government believes in clean coal-fired power plants: “Thanks in particular to the co-combustion of coal with ammonia or ammonia alone, explains Yasutoshi Nishimura, we will ensure that there are no more CO2 emissions, or we will capture and reuse this CO2, transform thermal power plants into carbon-free power plants.”

From next year, a first power plant should operate with a mixture of 20% ammonia and 80% coal to prove the relevance of this technology. Japan therefore wants to extend the life of coal-fired power stations, but also to build new ones, even more adapted to this technique. He also plans to export it to several Asian countries. This strategy risks delaying the transition to renewables, environmentalists fear. They also offered Japan during COP28 a fourth “fossil of the day”, a dishonorable reward. “This ‘fossil of the day’, reacts the minister, comes from people who are unaware of Japanese technologies. These technologies are there and thanks to them, thanks to innovation, we will certainly guarantee carbon neutrality, growth and stability of energy supply. Critics call this “technosolutionism.”