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Assessing the emission impacts of current plans for constructing and retrofitting thermal power plants in Japan

New analysis from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies finds that current plans to build new, and retrofit old, fossil fuel power plants in Japan would exceed CO2 emission estimates, derailing efforts to meet the country’s climate targets unless they operate at a lower capacity. According to a new issue brief by IGES’s Climate and Energy Area, if all fossil fuel power plants currently planned for construction and retrofitting in Japan are put into operation by 2030, coal-fired power plants will need to operate at a 56% capacity factor – or even partially terminate plans for constructing new plants – in order to satisfy the emission targets Japan has set under the Paris Agreement.