ゴールドマン環境賞に平田氏　日本女性初、「ＣＯ２減に貢献」

　草の根の環境保護活動家に贈られ、環境分野のノーベル賞とも呼ばれる国際賞「ゴールドマン環境賞」の２０２１年の受賞者に、ＮＰＯ法人「気候ネットワーク」の平田仁子理事（５０）らが選ばれた。日本人の受賞は２３年ぶり３人目で、女性は初めて。火力発電所の建設反対運動を推進し、二酸化炭素（ＣＯ２）の排出を大幅に削減したと評価された。
　賞を授与する米ゴールドマン環境財団が１５日、発表した。平田氏は「これからの私たちの活動に大きな力になる。脱石炭、脱炭素化の実現にはもっと大きな動きをつくっていかなければならず、むしろこれからが重要だ」とコメントした。
　日本人の受賞は、諌早湾の干拓に反対し、自然保護活動に取り組んだ山下弘文さん（１９９８年）以来。「もったいない」運動で知られるケニア出身の環境保護活動家でノーベル平和賞受賞者のワンガリ・マータイさんも９１年に受賞した。（2021/06/15-21:33）

Japanese environmental activist Kimiko Hirata has been picked as one of the recipients of the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize for promoting a campaign against the construction of coal-fired power plants.
   Hirata, 50, became the third Japanese winner of the award, which honors grassroots environmental activists and is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize for the environment," and the first female recipient from Japan.
   The San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation announced the recipients on Tuesday. Hirata, international director of nonprofit organization Kiko Network, was recognized for successfully reducing a great amount of carbon dioxide emission as a result of her campaign.
   The recognition "alone will be invaluable for us in our future activities," Hirata said. "In order to realize a coal phase-out and decarbonized society, big, ambitious actions are necessary, and our efforts from this point on will be even more important."
   Hirata is the first Japanese awardee since Hirofumi Yamashita, who received the prize in 1998 for opposing the Isahaya Bay reclamation project in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, and putting his efforts into the protection of the natural environment.