With the stated goal of reducing Japan’s CO2 emissions to the necessary levels indicated by the IPCC, on August 6, 16 youths from across Japan filed a climate lawsuit in the Nagoya District Court against ten Japanese energy companies.
The filing of lawsuits demanding that governments and companies take stronger measures against climate change (often called “climate lawsuits”) is happening all over the world. The number of cases with youths as the plaintiffs – as they will be more severely impacted by present and future climate change – are increasing, with notable examples such as the climate lawsuits in the US (Montana) and South Korea. According to the attorneys supporting this case, this is the first nationwide climate lawsuit filed by youth plaintiffs in Japan.
The plaintiffs in the “Youth Climate Case Japan” are 16 people in their teens to 20s living in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Kansai, Chugoku, Kyushu and other regions. They claim that the adverse effects of climate change are violating the human rights of young generations and are demanding science-based emission reductions from 10 thermal power companies that continue to emit large amounts of CO2, the cause of climate change, in order to live in a future that is not threatened by the climate crisis.
The ten defendants of the case are:
JERA (jointly funded by the Tokyo Electric Power Group and Chubu Electric Power), Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power), Kobe Steel Ltd., Hokkaido Electric Power, Tohoku Electric Power, Hokuriku Electric Power, Kansai Electric Power, Chugoku Electric Power, Shikoku Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power.
The combined CO2 emissions of these 10 companies account for about 30 percent of Japan’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says it is necessary to reduce global CO2 emission by 48% by 2030 and 65% by 2035 (compared to 2019) in order to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C. The plaintiffs’ claim points out that the IPCC’s requirement of emission reduction is a public policy of the international community, and is also a minimum obligation for the defendants, who are large emitters in Japan, a developed country. However, the reduction targets listed by the ten defendants do not reach these levels, and their reduction measures are uncertain and unfeasible, relying on hydrogen/ammonia co-firing, CCS, and the restart of nuclear power plants. Another issue is the defendant companies’ plans to continue operating coal-fired power plants, high CO2 emission sources, by 2050 on the premise of achieving zero-emission thermal power generation. The plaintiffs argue that this attitude of the defendant companies constitutes an infringement of their legal obligation (duty of care) regarding the level of their own emission reductions.
At a press conference after the lawsuit was filed, the plaintiffs expressed their reasons for filing the case, including “We must not allow the fossil fuel industry to destroy our future for short-term profit” and “We want to do everything we can now to leave the earth in its current state for future generations.”
Attorney Mie Asaoka, joint representative of the legal team, said “This is the first full-scale nationwide climate lawsuit in Japan. Through this case, we want to create an opportunity to think together.”
Information about the case, including the schedule of trial and debriefing sessions, will be posted on the Youth Climate Case Japan (https://youth4cj.jp/) website. We hope that through the voices of the youth who have stood up in this lawsuit, attention will be drawn to the importance of addressing the climate crisis, and that this will lead to reliable climate change action by the defendant companies.