New U.S. climate envoy urges Japan to set clear coal phase-down plan

TOKYO -- Japan should establish a timeline for moving away from coal power and set more ambitious emission reduction targets, the new U.S. climate envoy said this week while hinting that such topics could be raised at the U.S.-Japan summit next month.

Tokyo is "attempting to reduce emissions from the [power] sector by co-firing with ammonia," John Podesta told Nikkei Asia on Thursday, referring to a nascent Japanese technology designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants by mixing in ammonia as a fuel. "But we've got to get to zero. Having clear plans of how you can do that is going to be important."