WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund deleted a sentence critical of Japan’s continued financing of high-emissions coal projects from a staff mission statement on the Japanese economy, a copy of an earlier draft viewed by Reuters shows.
The IMF issued the report on Jan. 28 at the conclusion of a routine country surveillance mission to Tokyo to review Japan’s economic policies.
The published concluding statement from IMF staff focused on Japan’s need to scale back pandemic-relief measures as its economy recovers. It included a section entitled “Shifting to a Low-carbon Economy” that made no mention of coal but said meeting carbon emissions reduction goals would be especially challenging for Japan given its heavy reliance on fossil fuels for energy since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
A Jan. 26 draft of the document included this sentence: “While the Japanese government pledged to end new unabated coal financing, ending exceptions from the pledge and phasing out of existing commitments to support coal projects abroad would further contribute to the global efforts on climate policy.”
It was not immediately clear who directed deletion of the passage.
The review was the first of Japan’s economy since the IMF board voted last year to increase climate coverage in its surveillance activities. As part of the normal country review process, the IMF is due to issue an Executive Board statement on Japan’s review - known as an Article IV review - and a detailed staff report in coming weeks.
An IMF spokesperson declined to comment on the draft seen by Reuters, adding that the global lender - as a matter of policy - does not comment on its communications with members.
“Japan’s government is not in a position to comment on the process” in which the IMF crafted the Article IV statement based on discussion with Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the government’s top spokesperson, told a regular press conference on Thursday, answering a question on the matter.
The Japanese government, which has backed exports of coal power plants to Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, adopted stricter rules for such projects in 2018 and 2020. However, it has resisted divestments of such projects, and has continued to grant exceptions to a June 2021 policy pledge to stop backing coal projects that lack measures to reduce carbon emissions.
Kate Mackenzie, an independent climate finance consultant and researcher based in Australia, said the change in the Japan report was disappointing given that the fund had only belatedly committed to including climate risk in its Article IV reports.
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