Fossil Free Japan

Ripple had the honor of working with Fossil Free Japan, an international coalition of civil society organizations working to end Japan’s overseas finance for fossil fuels. When the former Japanese Prime Minister visited the United States we used the opportunity to write and publish this high-profile op-ed in Newsweek on behalf of the coalition: Japanese PM Kishida Must Stop Derailing the Global Energy Transition; and organized a press conference which was attended by Politico, Bloomberg, Kyodo News, Nikkei Asia, Financial Times, Asahi Shumbun, Mainichi Shimbun and then Japan Times. A local fisherman in the U.S. Gulf wanted to share his personal story with the Prime Minister about the environmental and public health catastrophes caused by Japan’s investments in U.S. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) projects. Ripple helped Louisiana shrimper Travis Dardar’s voice be heard by helping to publish his op-ed in Climate Home News entitled: Louisiana communities are suffering from Japan-funded LNG exports.

Later, Ripple helped organize a tour for Japanese media of the U.S. Gulf to see first-hand the implications of Japan’s investments resulting in this major feature in Japan Times: Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom. Finally, we partnered with Melanie Oldham, Founder and Director of Better Brazoria: Clean Air & Water, a frontline environmental justice organization based in Freeport, Texas, to place this op-ed – Japan’s Ongoing Harm in the U.S. Gulf – which ran in Energy Tracker on the 2-year anniversary of the Freeport LNG export terminal explosion.