Fukushima follow-up: support Japan’s renewable energy campaign

Posted by WWF guest blogger — Arai Hideko

With the anniversary of the Fukishima nuclear disaster coming up in March, WWF in Japan will be submitting a petition to the government as part of a 100% Renewable Energy Campaign. We’re asking for international support to increase the signatures on the petition – please sign it now!

After last year’s tsunami triggered the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese government decided to rethink its overall energy policies and review its ‘Basic Energy Plan’ document.

© WWF-UK Earth Hour blogger

  Our campaign is asking for no new nuclear power plants to be built in Japan, and a gradual closure of all 54 existing plants by around 2050. We also want to avoid dependence on climate-changing fossil fuels.

Tens of thousands of people have already signed our petition, which demands that the following five factors be incorporated into the revised Basic Energy Plan:

1. A goal of 100% renewable energy.

2. Increased liberalisation of the electricity market and creation of a next-generation electricity network.

3. A future not reliant on nuclear power.

4. A society not dependent on fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) for energy, to minimise climate change.

5. Achieving sustainable lifestyles without sacrificing convenience, through massive energy savings and much reduced energy consumption compared to now.

We launched the petition in May last year and so far have had about 54,000 signatures in Japan and about 1,800 from the rest of the world. But we believe the more signatures we can gather, the greater our chances of success.

Although the petition concerns Japanese energy policy, nuclear disasters like Fukushima have global consequences. That’s why we’re calling for signatures internationally. Support from around the world will also give the Japanese government the decision-making power it needs to promote a shift toward 100% renewable energy.

And we believe signatures from you in the UK, a country leading efforts to tackle climate change issues, would be particularly significant.

We intend to submit our petition in February. So please support us by signing now.

You can…

Take action now – sign our petition!

Read WWF UK report on how renewable electricity can transform the UK by 2030

(Please note, the opinions expressed in our guest blogs are those of our guest writers, and not necessarily shared by WWF.) Read more of our guest blogs.