{"id":17944,"date":"2020-04-16T10:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T01:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prod-jp-raw.greenpeace.org\/japan\/press-release\/press-release_13346\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T09:03:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:03:31","slug":"press-release_13346","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/press-release\/press-release_13346\/","title":{"rendered":"Weak new coal policy with loopholes contradicts SMBC\u2019s new corporate mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large caption-style-blue-overlay caption-alignment-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/602ef75e-gp0stugz6_low_res.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13355\"\/ loading=\"eager\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tokyo, Japan &#8211; Greenpeace Japan reacts to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group\u2019s (SMBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600579_01.html\">ESG release<\/a>, published today. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the release, SMBC writes it will in principle stop financing new coal-fired power projects. However, this principle is followed by multiple exceptions for cases where it can consider financing coal projects. These include projects using ultra-super critical (USC) coal plant technology, carbon capture and storage (CCS), or carbon recycling. Projects that SMBC has already committed to are also excluded from this policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to the new policy, Hanna Hakko, Greenpeace Japan\u2019s Senior Energy Campaigner said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSMBC\u2019s new policy is a big disappointment. Keeping the door open for still financing any kinds of new coal power projects in this period of global climate emergency is highly irresponsible. This policy shows just how behind SMBC is in terms of global ESG investment trends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On April 1st 2020, SMBC updated its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600578_01.html\">company mission<\/a> to include a sentence \u201cWe contribute to a sustainable society by addressing environmental and social issues.\u201d [2]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hakko said: \u201cSMBC\u2019s unwillingness to clearly rule out coal financing makes its newly updated mission nothing more than greenwashing. If it is serious about its mission, it would make a clear commitment to stop financing coal projects and corporations that are building new coal plants.\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600579_01.html\">https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600579_01.html<\/a><br>[2] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600578_01.html\">https:\/\/www.smbc.co.jp\/news_e\/e600578_01.html<\/a>&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Photos of Greenpeace actions related to SMBC:<\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/collection\/27MZIFJ8B4IU4\">January 2020: Greenpeace Switzerland\u2019s activity at Davos World Economic Forum<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1DBbRAj_hLa0v2-bCezqfhiedxhwvWa27\/view?usp=sharing\">May 2018: Greenpeace Japan\u2019s activity at SMBC headquarters, Tokyo<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace Japan reports related to SMBC:<\/strong><br>August 2019: <a href=\"\/japan\/news\/story_9918\/\"><em>A Deadly Double Standard: How Japan&#8217;s financing of highly polluting overseas coal plants endangers public health<\/em><\/a><br>December 2018: <a href=\"\/japan\/press-release\/story_6042\/\"><em>Uncertain and Harmful: Japanese coal investment in Indonesia<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tokyo, Japan &#8211; Greenpeac&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5624,"template":"","tags":[],"press-release-category":[14,99],"class_list":["post-17944","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","press-release-category-press-release","press-release-category-climate-change"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/17944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/17944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23297,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/17944\/revisions\/23297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17944"},{"taxonomy":"press-release-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release-category?post=17944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}