Petition: Tell Sumitomo Corporate to start being a climate leader -- and stop being part of the problem

Kuniharu Nakamura, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Masayuki Hyodo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sumitomo Corporation

Dogwood Alliance

A climate catastrophe is coming, and if we want to prevent its worst effects, we need powerful companies to start changing their ways. Japan’s massive Sumitomo Corporation had an opportunity to be a climate leader when they rolled out their new climate policy in August, but instead, their plan is full of loopholes and falls far short of what’s needed.

Despite claiming to fight climate change, Sumitomo is making the climate crisis worse by building new pollution-spewing coal-fired power plants in Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh. And at a time when stabilizing our climate depends on protecting existing forests, Sumitomo is paying to chop down forests in Canada, the southeastern United States, and Vietnam to burn as dirty fuel in Japanese power plants.

Sumitomo needs to hear that, no matter how much they talk about addressing climate change, it’s their actions that matter. Sign our petition to demand this industry giant to stop making the climate crisis worse, and instead step up to be a climate leader.

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To: Kuniharu Nakamura, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Masayuki Hyodo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sumitomo Corporation
From: [Your Name]

As an industry leader, Sumitomo Corporation needs to stop actions which worsen climate change. Specifically, I ask you to cancel new coal power plants, including the Van Phong I plant in Vietnam and Tanjung Jati B in Indonesia, and end your involvement with the Matabari plant in Bangladesh, and to stop destroying forests in North America and Vietnam to produce wood pellets. I urge you to end your reliance on biomass from forests, adopt a “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” forest protection policy, and immediately transition away from coal and other dirty fuel sources that worsen climate change. Sumitomo has an opportunity to be a climate champion by developing truly clean energy. Climate change is a crisis that affects our entire world, and we need companies like Sumitomo to lead the way toward a solution.