Photo/Illutration Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi responds to questions from reporters on Feb. 25. (The Asahi Shimbun)

The government, under international fire from environmentalists, will tighten its approval requirements concerning state assistance for exports of coal-fired power plants, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Feb. 25.

Koizumi said relevant ministries will enter deliberations on such assistance for plant exports, and that the goal is to reach an agreement by June so the new conditions can be presented at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Britain in November.

Coal-fired plants emit large volumes of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and Japan has been criticized for not only continuing to build new plants in Japan but also exporting them to Southeast Asia.

“I believe there is a need to at least review the conditions for exports,” said Koizumi, mindful of the foreign criticism directed at Japan.

European nations have moved away from coal-fired thermal power plants because even the most energy-efficient ones still release about double the amount of greenhouse gas emissions of a plant using natural gas.

In the Strategic Energy Plan approved by the government in July 2018, four major conditions were deemed necessary for government assistance for exports of coal-fired thermal power plants.

The conditions include: when nations request Japan’s technology for high-efficiency coal thermal power generation; when the nations have no choice but to use coal as their energy source from the standpoint of energy security and economic efficiency; and when the exported power plants have a power-generation efficiency equivalent to the most advanced ultra-super-critical power plants.

The other government agencies involved in the review process include the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy and the Finance Ministry.

The results of the discussions will likely be included in the government’s outline for infrastructure export strategy.

However, Koizumi said there would be no review of a project involving a coal-fired thermal power plant export to Vietnam. The government-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation is considering providing a loan for the project and a Japanese trading company is planning to invest in it.

The Vung Ang 2 thermal plant has an estimated project cost of $2.2 billion (about 244 billion yen).

Koizumi was initially critical of the project, saying it did not fulfill the four conditions because the prospective builders of the plant are Chinese and U.S. companies.