Protesters in Pokemon costumes stomped around the United Nations climate conference Friday to send Japan a message: end financing of coal and natural gas projects across Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/53082816

Protesters in Pokemon costumes stomped around the United Nations climate conference on Friday to send a message to Japan: end financing of coal and natural gas projects across Southeast Asia and other regions of the Global South.

“Japan is actually delaying the fossil fuel phase-out across Asia” by funding energy projects, mainly liquefied natural gas developments, in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, said Hiroki Osada with Friends of the Earth Japan, one of the protest organizers

The government-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation financed $6.4 billion in loans for coal projects and $874 million in loans for gas projects from 2016 to 2024, according to a 2025 study by the Philippines-based research and advocacy organization Center for Energy, Ecology and Development based on public government and banking data.