In response to the US-Israeli war on Iran and the global fossil fuel crisis, Prime Minister Takaichi is visiting Australia and Vietnam to promote stronger military cooperation and Japan’s recently launched POWERR Asia initiative, aimed at increasing fossil fuel stockpiles.
Ahead of her visit, the undersigned 30 organisations released the following statement:
Under Prime Minister Takaichi, Japan is leading the Asia-Pacific down a dangerous path of fossil fuel expansion and militarisation. We must reject this vision for the Asia-Pacific and beyond: no more weapons, no more fossils.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi committed USD 10 billion in public finance – mostly in loans – for Asian countries to secure more crude oil and to “diversify” its energy sources by encouraging greater uptake of LNG and biofuels. This initiative, “Partnership on Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia (POWERR Asia),” announced at Japan’s Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Plus Summit, claims to drive up to 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil imports annually. This is not a show of sincere support towards neighboring countries in the region during an energy crisis – but is another example of Japan using diplomatic and financial force to suppress the region’s transition to reliable, self-sufficient, affordable renewable energy.
AZEC, initiated by then-Prime Minister Kishida in 2023, promotes LNG, carbon capture and storage (CCS), biomass, ammonia and hydrogen co-firing in ASEAN countries and Australia under the guise of decarbonization. Despite its name, more than 30% of partnerships signed under AZEC support these false solutions. Like AZEC, POWERR Asia is distracting partner countries with further unreliable fossil fuel dependence as a response to an energy crisis.
Japanese corporations are benefiting from conflicts and crises
In the backdrop of Takaichi’s visits is Japan’s push for security cooperation and increased militarisation. This month, the Takaichi administration lifted further restrictions on its weapons export rules. It also agreed to sell 11 warships to Australia – the largest postwar defense deal. The project has been awarded to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the world’s largest gas turbine producers.
This simultaneous push for militarisation and public investment in fossil fuel expansion is hypocritical and dangerous.
Fossil fuels are undeniably linked to conflict and inequality. Under Takaichi’s direction, Japan risks losing touch with the rest of the world, as other governments adopt safer, cheaper, renewable energy. Stockpiling fossil fuels and strengthening military power do not address the core issue. The fossil fuel and arms industries profit from war and have an inhumane vested interest in prolonging conflict.
In the face of global crisis, the Asia-Pacific looks to renewables as the path to energy self-sufficiency
This week, more than 50 countries convened at the First Conference to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia. Amid the current energy crisis, Japan’s neighbours are also urgently seeking to move beyond the fossil fuel world order. The most reliable path to energy security is the rapid, equitable and just transition to renewable energy – especially when over 99% of Southeast Asia’s solar and wind potential remains untapped.
In Vietnam, a plan for the country’s largest LNG plant is now in doubt, as developers are seeing a need to consider pivoting to a renewable energy project to avoid skyrocketing fossil fuel costs. In South Korea, President Lee Jae Myung warned that “our future will be at serious risk if we continue to rely on fossil fuels”, pledging a “fundamental energy transition”. The Philippines cited the expansion of renewable energy capacity as a “key strategy” to strengthen energy independence. In Australia, Energy Minister Chris Bowen reaffirmed renewable energy as key to national energy security, affirming the need to end our reliance on fossil fuels.
Across the Asia-Pacific, leaders see renewables as critical to cutting emissions, lowering costs and achieving energy independence – free from expensive and volatile imported fossil fuels.
Japan’s role in Australia’s gas expansion
As one of the world’s largest buyers of coal and gas, Japan drives fossil fuel expansion abroad. Australian exports are instrumental in fueling Japan’s pro-fossil strategy. Japanese stakeholders continue to push for increased Australian gas production, backed by public investment in Australian LNG projects such as Barossa, Scarborough and Ichthys. This was rationalised on Japan’s domestic energy security concerns, though this has been robustly debunked as yet another lie.
40% of LNG handled by Japanese companies is sold overseas, with Japanese companies raking in profits exceeding AUD $1 billion. Accompanied by a buildout of midstream and downstream infrastructure in the region, this model of buying, on-selling, and creating artificial demand is designed to increase reliance on Japanese-controlled fossil fuel supply chains. Australia aspires to become the renewable energy powerhouse that Asia needs, but is held back by an outdated trading relationship built around dirty energy.
Japan should support Southeast Asia’s energy self-sufficiency, not fossil fuel expansion
The US-Israeli war on Iran hit countries across Southeast Asia. Consumer inflation hit Vietnam and the Philippines the highest, revealing both countries’ exposure to fossil fuel reliance across their industries.
Vietnam has vast potential in wind and solar. Its technical potential for solar is up to 1,646 GW, between 10 and 20 GW for onshore wind, and 1,068 GW for offshore wind. However, Japan announced USD 20 billion in support for energy-related projects in Vietnam last year, under the AZEC framework. Of the 14 projects, 5 are directly related to gas infrastructure. Continuing to push fossil fuel development risks Vietnam’s energy security and creates stranded assets in a country ripe for renewable energy.
The Philippines was the first country to declare a national energy emergency as a direct result of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Fuel price shocks have triggered strikes and government agencies have turned to four-day work weeks. The host of the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in May will hold some sessions virtually, as part of the country’s austerity measures.
However, the Philippines, like Vietnam, has 1,200 GW of renewables potential, and can phase out coal-fired power in the power sector by 2035 and gas by 2040 without relying on CCS and other fossil fuel-based technologies. Southeast Asian countries expect to be engaged as equal partners to address energy transition and security. Countries in Southeast Asia have faced colonial extractivism, and do not need so-called development models that will reinforce foreign dependency.
Asia Pacific does not need more fossil fuels or more weapons
Instead of increased militarisation and fossil fuel deals, the Prime Minister should listen to her constituents back home – where tens of thousands of young people are calling for Japan to keep its pacifist constitution and stay out of America’s wars. She should also learn from neighbouring countries that are turning to reliable and affordable renewable energy, and not offer them short-sighted fossil fuel loans that will entrench them deeper into risky imported energy reliance and debt. It is our responsibility to support the rapid, just, equitable, and people-centered transition away from fossil fuels for a healthy planet and for future generations.
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the people most devastated by US-Israeli aggression, especially in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. We stand in solidarity with the countries most affected by climate change despite their limited contribution to the climate crisis. We stand in solidarity with the communities and Indigenous Peoples whose lands, ecosystems, health and livelihoods have been harmed by fossil fuel projects.
We call on Prime Minister Takaichi and the Japanese government to:
- End support for unreliable, expensive fossil fuels and fossil fuel-based technologies such as LNG, ammonia/hydrogen co-firing, biomass, and CCS that will only exacerbate the region’s reliance on risky fossil fuels.
- Redirect public finance as grants toward scaling up community-based renewables, alongside energy efficiency, which will improve countries’ energy self-sufficiency.
- Respect communities’ rights and ecosystems, ensuring that ASEAN and Australia are not used as an outlet for Japan’s carbon waste or irrelevant technologies.
- Exert full diplomatic pressure in calling for an end to the war in Iran.
Signed,
Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA)
The Artivist Network
Asian Energy Network
Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development
Christians for Peace Newcastle
Climate Action Network Australia
Don’t Gas Asia
Don’t Gas Indonesia
Don’t Gas the South
Energy Shift Southeast Asia
Friends of the Earth Japan
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Greenpeace Japan
Jubilee Australia Research Centre
Kiko Network
KRuHA Indonesia
K4K
Mekong Watch
Oil Change International
Oriang Women’s Movement
Peoples Climate Assembly
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
Samahang Magkakapitbahay – Zone One Tondo Organization (SM-ZOTO)
Sanlakas
SEMATA Indonesia
Serikat Nelayan Indonesia (SNI) / Indonesia Fisherfolk Union