power pollution
An expert panel charged with mapping out a plan for Japan to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050 met for the first time Wednesday, focusing on what the revised target for 2030 should be and how to structure a carbon tax.
But Japan faces big hurdles in shifting to a more ambitious climate agenda. Analysts say that, if the country is to become a net emitter by 2050, then it will have to cut emissions by more than 40% by 2030. Tokyo committed the nation to cutting carbon emissions by 26% from the 2013 level under the Paris climate agreement.
Because Japan is a big greenhouse-gas producer among advanced nations, it is already under pressure to set a bolder goal than its current Paris target. Climate Action Tracker, an international collective of researchers that monitors progress toward the Paris agreement vision of keeping the global rise in temperature to within 1.5 degrees Celsius, says Tokyo must seek a reduction of more than 60% by 2030.
To reduce greenhouse emissions, a major expansion of renewable energy will be essential. Tokyo seeks to have renewables contribute to about 20% of the nation’s electricity output by 2030.
The target was more or less attained last year thanks to the proliferation of solar power. But Japan still trails the U.K. and Germany, where renewables already account for more than 40% of electricity.
The Japan Association of Corporate Executives is calling for the renewable energy target for 2030 to be increased to 40%. The Japan Climate Leaders Partnership, a collective of businesses focused on adopting renewable energy, says the goal should go even further, aiming for up to around 50% of the energy mix.
“Japan has potential to roll out renewable energy even more,” the association said. But the coalition and others point out that Japan has relatively greater difficulty than other countries in drawing on domestic sources of renewable energy technology. For this reason they say more efforts must be made to ensure the country is not locked out of global supply chains.
One obstacle to the adoption of more renewable energy is Japan’s electric grid. The government has received reports, for instance, that small and midsize power suppliers are often asked by large utilities to pay steep fees to connect to the power transmission networks.
To relieve this burden on solar power and other renewable energy producers, the government will have to revise regulations and rules to encourage the mass adoption of renewable energy.
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