Kimiko Hirata

Out of 50 proposed co-projects, 17 totaling 9 gigawatt were canceled.

These cancellations prevented 50 million tons of CO2 per year and 1.7 billion tons over their lifetimes.

That's equivalent to taking more than 8 million cars off the road every year for 40 years.

We visited communities where projects are located and spoke with people.

But on many occasions, people didn't care much about the climate and new coal projects.

People cared more about their daily issues.

So we talked not only about climate change, but also about economic and financial risks and health impact from air pollution.

I've been working on the climate issue for almost 30 years.

For most of that time, I worked with a Japanese climate organization called KIKO Network.

Of course, it's been filled with ups and downs.

But today, I'd like to share some of the moments when we succeeded.

One turning point came after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

All of Japan's nuclear reactors shut down all of a sudden, and the country's energy system stood at a critical crossroads.

While people were awakened to nuclear risks, attention to climate change faded in return.

Then soon after, new plans to develop coal-fired power plants began to surge.

The number went up to 10, 20 and 50.

That was a really scary trend, considering the long-term CO2 emissions impact.

At that time, we were focusing on the UN climate negotiations and national climate policy, but I turned my focus to work on coal.

Why coal?

Even people close to me ask this question.