Green groups target Japan's mega banks on climate action

Apr 12, 2023 | News On Japan

Apr 12, 2023 (Business Mirror) - INVESTOR activist group Market Forces and other environmental nonprofits filed shareholder proposals with several Japanese megabanks and utilities, seeking to require them to disclose more specific plans on how they will work to meet climate targets set by the Paris Agreement.

The proposals target Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. Power utilities Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co. also received resolutions, as well as trading giant Mitsubishi Corp.

The activists are calling on the megabanks to create and disclose transition plans that match lending and investment portfolios with Paris Agreement goals. They argue that the banks’ climate targets and policies aren’t aligned with 2050 net zero pathways set by the International Energy Agency and the Net Zero Banking Alliance.

Japan has a goal to become carbon neutral by 2050, and both the government and the private sector have called on using a variety of methods to reduce emissions. Power producers like Jera Co., a joint venture between Tepco and Chubu Electric, are betting on developing technologies like carbon capture and storage and co-firing fossil fuel generation with ammonia or hydrogen.

But that approach threatens to extend the operational lives of both new and planned coal-fired plants, the activist organizations said in a statement. ...continue reading

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