Japan uses climate cash for coal plants in India, Bangladesh

Lowest of the low. And of course, economic growth is used as the excuse.

With these fools in charge any economic growth simply equates to more consumption, pollution, and destruction - with very few genuine benefits.

One fifth of the worst coal plants in the world are in the US. They didn`t stop to use them.

As usual, the Japanese authorities are on the wrong side of energy history and humanity's future because politicians and high level bureaucrats are in bed with corporations who greatly benefit from government contracts.

Still, it's better to help them build hydroelectric, wind, solar power plants. With the knowledge of those clean energies passed onto generation to generation, I believe it'll more helpful for them and us in the long run.

This is Japan, where government bureaucrats get to become senior executives at Japan's largest companies. Why should anyone be surprised that government funds are used in business, when former politicians and bureaucrats become the leading businessmen? Another example of using government policy to take from the people and give to themselves.

This situation is much like the entrepreneurship fund Japan recently created to create new businesses. Despite the title, pretty much all of the money which goes into this fund ends up being used to bail out poltically-connected Japanese companies, or to fund projects for existing politically-companies. Not one single new business has yet been created from this fund.

Unless you ban Amakudari, and the outright conflicts of interest it causes, things like this are going to happen.

One fifth of the worst coal plants in the world are in the US. They didn`t stop to use them.

All of America's coal-fired plants are highly regulated, all have sophisticated scrubbing systems to remove sulphur and other pollutants. This technology is generally unused in Asia. Also, America's coal plants were built with private funds, not government funds intended to fight pollution.

Local towns and villages will strong oppose any project that is deemed to pollute their environment and cause serious long term damage. Japan is definitely on the wrong foot by providing loans to India for coal-fired power plants. Japan should help India in the renewable energy sector via solar and wind power rather than hark back to "dirty" coal . People in India strongly oppose nuclear plants in Jaitapur as well, and politicians have never learned any lessons.

Hey, if you can use funds allocated to help tsunami victims to pay for whaling in the Southern Ocean, using climate funds to pay for coal power stations isn't any real surprise. The saddest part of this is the way that governments these days seem almost completely unaccountable for their actions. Either side of politics will just say some slogan-ridden gibberish and one side of the media will fully support whatever they say and the other will denounce it. In the end, nothing is achieved, no one is accountable, and the corruption rolls on.

The alternative would be that these countries would still build the coal power plants but without the cleaner technology. I don't think it is such a bad trade off. Of course, it would be better to support them building renewable energy, but if the countries are unwilling, then this is the next best alternative.

Besides, someone will extract the coal, and it will be burned. It is better that it is burned as efficiently as possible. This goes to the idea that if the oil or coal is pulled from the ground, it will get burned and contribute to global warming. So, slowing the extraction of oil and coal is also as important to using clean energy, and there is not slow down of extraction at the moment, so all the efforts at clean energy are really just wasted unless the extraction is slowed.

One final point, this money will probably be used to purchase the technology from Japan, so it is probably more government subsidies of Japanese industry.

Alex80: One fifth of the worst coal plants in the world are in the US. They didn`t stop to use them.

Don't know what you mean by worst (and I'd disagree with the first criteria that comes to mind, the perceived evilness of carbon dioxide), but Wikipedia's list of world coal-fired power plants, sorted by MW, has the number one largest USA plant, Bowen, at number 52 in the world. There are around 200 plants in the list, and the USA has 19 of those ~200, a bit less than 10 percent.

China has most of the plants in the top 21 largest, at 13, followed by Taiwan with 3, India with 2, and one each in Poland, Indonesia, and Germany.

So, maybe the environmentalists would care to start with China?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coal_power_stations

The following page lists all coal-fired power stations (including lignite-fired) that are larger than 2,000 MW in current net capacity, which are currently operational or under construction. If station has also non-coal-fired blocks, only coal-fired capacity is listed.

Dayum that's LOW!!! So Japan will claim that it's clime and CO2 emissions are par for the course while taking it's garbage elsewhere.

Somebody in India's government is very greedy.

Greed will make them eat their own children. How unpatriotic!

It is safe assumption that these anti-coal plant protesters are also against nuclear energy. So what do they want? Go back to a pre-industrial society? Funny thing, I don´t see any of them living off the grid or giving up their comfy lifestyle.

The idea that a modern society can power itself by windmills end the like is simply naive wishful thinking and does not stand a reality check.

JBIC agreed in January 2014 to provide $210 million in loans to Indian power company NTPC Ltd. to finance the purchase of steam turbine generators and boiler feed water pumps to be used in the coal plant from a local subsidiary of Toshiba, a major Japanese company

Here is what it boils down to, corporate welfare for Toshiba, etc , this kind of corruption has been ongoing for many many decades. Add in all the amakudari, K/B, usual govt inefficiencies & this is a very nasty nasty business.

And yeah to tie it all into being good for the environment, DISGUSTING!! I hate my taxes being wasted for this %$%#!!

@turbosat: Again. One fifth of the worst coal plants in the world are in the US. For you, if you are really interested in the truth:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-fifth-of-worlds-worst-coal-plants-are-in-u-s/

So, saying "in the US they stopped to use them" is false, plus the situation is also very bad.

@Alex80

The article at your link says "Compared with the most modern stations, these so-called "subcritical" coal-fired power stations (SCPS) emit 75 percent more carbon pollution and use up 67 percent more water."

So, no, I don't think it is a problem. By 'carbon pollution' they probably mean carbon dioxide, not particulates. By 'more water' they probably mean to imply 'because we're all poised on the edge of a drought and soon to die of thirst'. More Paul Ehrlich / Population Bomb / world-is-doomed claptrap.

More carbon dioxide is good, it will make the plants happier.

"Japan's support for new coal-fired power plants not only destroys the climate - it also displaces communities, is likely to cause untold local environmental damage, and primarily benefits Japanese companies instead of recipient countries," said Brandon Wu of ActionAid.

Brandon Wu of ActionAid http://www.actionaidusa.org/2013/03/mixed-bag-berlin

Even if the Green Climate Fund ends up being the best-designed fund in history, with best-practice provisions for inclusivity, transparency, country ownership, safeguards, and so on, it will be meaningless without money. And that money has to come from developed countries, per their obligations under the UNFCCC - not to mention their moral obligations as the countries that have done the most to cause climate change.

Is it just coincidence that his argument is so similar to that of Communist Party of China?

Mr. Wu criticizes US, which is his country, and other "rich countries," but does not criticize China which is killing its people by air polution, which floats all the way to Japan in a visible way these days.

Coal is a terrible fuel. Unfortunately, too many countries, including America and China, have ample reserves of it with strong interest groups that buttress the myth that somehow coal can be burned cleanly. It can be burned cleanly but not economically if it is changed to a cleaner burning fuel.

This is why Obama is trying to rally friends and allies into reducing new coal facilities and financing for coal facilities. Japan signed onto that idea. Now Japan is reneging. What will you do about that, Obama?

A resounding NO to any further funding of fossil fuel-burning industries! Instead of encouraging and rewarding them, let's have increasing penalties for greenhouse gas producers, with the fines and taxes going directly towards replacing them with non polluting energy sources such as geothermal, solar, wave, tidal, and hydro. Where nuclear reactors can be safely located (away from coastlines and earthquake fault zones) use only thorium as fuel, not uranium. Wind is problematic because of bird kills and unhealthy noise/vibration for those living nearby. Anything less is a recipe for global environmental disaster.