Opinion | Gas, like coal, has no future as the world wakes up to climate emergency
- The focus on coal has diverted attention away from carbon-producing fossil gas. Amid a raft of net-zero pledges, Asian countries and companies must put an end to the billions they continue to pour into gas and turn to greener energy options
“Coal is dead.” When Jim Barry, global head of infrastructure for the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, made this statement in 2017, his view was a controversial one. Today, it’s common sense.
What is less well understood is that gas will inevitably follow the same rapid downward trajectory. And this has major implications for its backers in Asia, notably Japan, South Korea and China.
While coal is not going away overnight, the pipeline of proposed coal power projects in Asia has shrunk to a fraction of its former self. What’s more, companies which held on to coal for too long have found themselves with expensive stranded assets on their hands.
A case in point is Japan’s Marubeni. Marubeni pledged in 2018 to halve its net coal power generating capacity of about 3GW by 2030 to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But in comments late last year reported by Reuters, Marubeni Corp’s chief executive officer Masumi Kakinoki admitted increasing difficulties in selling stakes in coal-fired power plants.
