Even Pikachu is against coal.
AFTER Japanese officials refused to sign the pledge to reduce their coal consumption, protesters dressed as Pikachu, the most popular Pokemon held up signs asking the country to stop funding coal.
The United Nations' 26th climate change conference, also referred to as COP26, is being held in Glasgow, Scotland between October 31 and November 12.
While many world leaders have pledged and given speeches of commitment to combat catastrophic climate change over the week, many environmental groups remain underwhelmed.
“We must not declare victory here,” said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work informing the world about climate change.
“We know that we have made progress, but we are far from the goals that we need to reach.”
At the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced an additional $10 billion over five years to help Asia as a whole to transition toward zero emissions but remained dependent on coal-fired power plants.
He said it is necessary to use existing fossil fuel plants by transitioning them into “zero-emission” facilities by replacing coal and natural gas with ammonia and hydrogen.
Kishida’s speech garnered the inglorious Fossil of the Day Award, given to name and shame countries for not seriously addressing climate change, along with Norway and Australia.
By dressing up as Pikachu, the electric Pokemon, the protesters are asking Japan to join the 46 countries that have signed the agreement to phase out coal power by the 2030s and worldwide by 2040s.
The United States of America, China, and India are the other countries who have declined to sign the pledge.
As for the Philippines, the multilateral Climate Investment Funds is investing about $2.5 billion to help developing countries to phase out coal starting with India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa.
Tags: #coal, #COP26, #Pikachu, #Japan