Toshiba is to stop taking orders for new coal-fired power plants, shifting its focus more towards renewable energies, the Nikkei newspaper has reported. The decision comes shortly after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan would aim to make its economy carbon-neutral by 2050. With its pivot towards renewables, Toshiba will increase its annual spending in the area roughly fivefold to 160 billion yen (US$1.52 billion/€1.29 billion) by the 2022 fiscal year. Excluding China, the company currently has an 11% market share in thermal power generation, and will complete the 10 coal-fired power plants it is currently working on in Japan, Vietnam and other countries, as well as continue to provide services and replacement parts for plants in operation. Still, the decision not to take new orders is a highly significant one. Other major companies such as Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are also weighing up the future of their coal-fired businesses, in a sign of changing times, and one suspects that Chinese and Indian companies will assume an even greater share of the coal-fired market in years to come.