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The Secretary General of the United Nations, the person ultimately responsible for implementing the SDGs, has stated very clearly that it is “essential to stop the construction of new coal-based power plants from 2020 onwards.” At the UN climate summit in December 2019, he further elaborated: “Either we stop this addiction to coal or all our efforts to tackle climate change will be doomed.”. GE did not address these issues at all in its response to NRDC’s inquiries.
GE would be dependent on subsidies from the people of Kenya to make any money at Lamu – raising energy costs to build a plant that will provide limited power to the people of Kenya. The past FCPA violations by Alstom specifically included violations related to power projects. Kenya: The proposed project in Kenya, Lamu has received extensive economic scrutiny and the Kenyan government’s own analysis shows the project is likely to be a significant cost to the public in terms of raising electricity prices. In September 2019, NRDC released a report documenting the fact that GE is planning to build a number of overseas coal-fired power plants, despite the disastrous impacts this would have on climate change and local air quality, mainly in developing countries. When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. UN Climate Summit: Will Leaders Deliver on Phasing out Coal? GE needs to exit these coal projects immediately. It remains to be seen whether Japan will keep using the policy loopholes to justify even more new projects in the future. They seem willfully ignorant of the World Bank’s financial analysis showing that a renewable energy and battery storage system for Kosovo would be a cheaper option than building a new coal plant. GE claims its projects will have low emissions, but their coal plants will still produce extremely high emissions.
But the reality is, the world doesn’t need GE’s dirty, expensive coal plants. The newly released infrastructure export plan will take effect in December. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and update email soon. According to Japan Times, the four conditions that Japan used to evaluate whether to export coal-powered technology are: “said nation has no other reasonable options for alternative energy sources, the request is made through official channels directly to the Japanese government, the foreign nation’s energy policy and climate change prevention measures are comprehensive, and coal-fired power satisfies the basic standards of Ultra Supercritical Coal, which refers to more modern plants with higher efficiency and often lower heat waste, pollution and carbon emissions.”. GE’s construction of coal plants are neither sustainable energy projects, nor in line with the recommendations of the UN Secretary General. The blog was co-written with Qingyang Liu. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and update email soon. GE did not provide any response to the data regarding premature deaths from respiratory illness and the incidences of low birth weight births that would result from exposure to GE-supplied coal plants. While the new coal export policy marks a welcome shift away from Japan’s previous stance of supporting Japanese coal industry profits at all costs, without proper consideration of the project impacts, the new policy does not go far enough. Kosovo: GE claims that Kosovo only has modest availability of feasible renewable energy resources, citing the World Bank. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, © Natural Resources Defense Council 2020 Privacy Policy Japan G20 Lacked Ambition on Climate Change & Coal Phaseout, COALLUSION: The US and Japan’s Global Pro-Pollution Agenda. Han Chen manages Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) work to promote a global energy transition and address climate change at the international level—especially in key countries like the United States, China, India, and Canada. In July 2020, Japan released a new policy on overseas coal-powered projects after facing criticism for the government’s promotion of new Japanese-supported coal plants overseas. GE claims it wants to help governments build power projects in an affordable and reliable manner, yet it engages in deals with high risks (and subsidies from the public, as noted in previous sections). While more details are needed about GE’s announcement, what’s clear is that there’s no future for new coal.
does not comply with European Union finance standards, violates the union’s pollution control rules, Department of Justice: Alstom Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay $772 Million Criminal Penalty to Resolve Foreign Bribery Charges, documented the misrepresentation of the environmental impact, against issuing an investment certificate, General Electric’s Coal Plant Profiteering Needs to End Now.
However, it is clear from the new coal export policy that Japan still has a way to go in reforming its coal export policy. Nor any information if there is a threshold on annual or lifetime premature deaths associated with each project, above which GE wouldn’t approve sales of equipment.
Poland: The Ostroleka C power plant in which GE is involved would be “permanently unprofitable” without heavy subsidies from Polish taxpayers to prop up the project. (Their emissions analysis kept comparing GE projects to false hypothetical scenarios of dirtier coal plants, not to viable clean energy alternatives.). (Department of Justice: Alstom Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay $772 Million Criminal Penalty to Resolve Foreign Bribery Charges).
GE citing the sustainable development goals as an excuse for constructing coal plants and making such claims in GE’s Statement on Climate Change on the GE website is an insult to the public. GE’s absolutist approach to making profits and its desperation to turn around the fortunes of the GE Power business by providing more expensive, dirty energy options in developing countries undermines the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the ability of countries to meet their goals under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
It says that in principle, the government will not provide assistance for new coal projects to those countries where Japan is not fully aware of the local energy situation and challenges or policies for decarbonization. But the G20 organized by Japan did not deliver on this urgent issue. While the policy is an acknowledgement that there are serious environmental health and climate damages from exporting coal-fired power plant technology, the loopholes in the new policy mean that new projects can still get support from the Japanese government. “significantly undermines, as a result of timing or magnitude, adoption in the country of high-efficiency, low-carbon, or renewable energy technology or infrastructure” or, “knowingly misrepresents the environmental impact of a project, investment, or product, including misrepresenting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project, investment, or product”. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. It’s also reasonable that other projects in early phases of construction should be cancelled at this stage, given that it’s now abundantly clear that coal projects aren’t financially or environmentally viable in the long run, as evidenced by GE’s exit from building new coal plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people,
When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. GE is helping to equip and plan more than a dozen new coal-fired power plants around the world, according to new research the Natural Resources Defense Council released today. State Disclosures, Manager, Energy Policy, International Program. Unfortunately, the policy includes exemptions where the Government of Japan will still fund coal plants: if partner countries with “no alternative” to coal-fired power plants request to access Japan's “highly efficient” coal-fired power generation technologies, and where the plant would “promote” an energy transition towards decarbonization with the support of Japan. GE claims advanced grid infrastructure does not exist in many developing markets. Today, General Electric announced it would no longer build new coal plants anywhere in the world. State Disclosures, Manager, Energy Policy, International Program. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. State Disclosures, Manager, Energy Policy, International Program.
On top of the sanctions on the Russian company involved in the project, further US sanctions risk could result from the data misrepresentation noted above. Here are the reasons why those excuses do not hold up to the facts: GE claims that their coal plants are the solution to energy poverty and that they help governments reach the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change and promote the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goals.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Despite the criticisms, most media sources report that the new policy makes it much more difficult for Japan to support coal-fired projects abroad. This raises serious concerns about the staff and business practices to secure such contracts, and the potential of similar violations or questionable practices by this unit in new projects. A big risk of the high-carbon projects that GE is considering building include an increasing likelihood of sanctions by the U.S. government on GE’s partners for its coal projects. NRDC has provided information about the modeling of health impacts from the pollutants that will be emitted from the Kenya, Lamu facility, if it is built. The statement also argues that “highly efficient” coal-fired plants (which are in fact a dangerous misnomer) will lock in future greenhouse gas emissions for a long time. The net present value of the project is negative, at -1.70 billion Euros. Leading up to the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised “firm leadership” and “disruptive innovation” on climate change.
We’re asking the GE Board to make sure GE refrains from further use of the SDGs as an explanation for building coal plants, since coal plants are inconsistent with sustainable development and it is inaccurate for GE to suggest no alternatives to coal plants exist and that coal plants serve long term development goals. After requesting a meeting with the Board of Directors, NRDC received a written response from General Electric that made excuses for their projects. Such is the case with GE’s planned projects in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Bangladesh and Bosnia, at least. Coal plants are the biggest single source of global carbon emissions—which are fueling climate change. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
This is an even greater risk if countries adopt proper carbon pricing and strong climate protection policies. We have urged GE to properly assess the political risk of the project, and to get an independent assessment of the excessive electricity prices for the Lamu project, which would unnecessarily burden Kenyan households. Why? This misguided initiative, supported wholeheartedly by Japan’s Prime Minister Abe, is yet another way Perry is trying to bail out the coal companies.
And yet, the countries where GE wants to build coal plants are installing thousands of megawatts of renewable energy, like in Vietnam. Alstom had already pled guilty and paid criminal penalties for those violations. For several months, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said the world needs “to make sure that we don’t build more coal power plants after 2020.” He also called for accelerating the closure of existing plants. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and update email soon. Because of that analysis, the World Bank publicly indicated last year that it will not get involved in the Kosovo project. Or as GE’s press release stated: “we are focused on power generation businesses that have attractive economics and a growth trajectory”—and coal is not one of those. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
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