A coalition of over 430 multinational companies, including 87 Japanese giants like Sony, Panasonic, and Rakuten, have urged Japan to triple its installed renewable energy capacity by 2035.
This call to action comes as Tokyo prepares to revise its energy targets.
Seventh Strategic Energy Plan
The companies argue that increasing renewable energy capacity would significantly enhance Japan’s energy security, maintain its international competitiveness, and stimulate private investment in alternative energy projects within the country.
The Japanese government is expected to release its seventh strategic energy plan, which is revised every three years, in the coming months.
RE100 Initiative and Global Commitments
During COP28 in Dubai at the end of 2023, around 100 countries, including Japan, signed a non-binding commitment to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 compared to 2022. This implies that each country’s contribution can be above or below this overall target.
The large companies that are members of the RE100 initiative, founded by the NGO The Climate Group, are calling for Japan to set a more ambitious example.
Lagging Behind in Renewables
Along with the United States, Japan has the lowest share of renewable energy in its electricity generation (around 22% in 2022) among the G7 countries, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The coalition has issued several recommendations to the Japanese government to address this, including implementing policies that improve the profitability and pricing of electricity from renewable sources.
Recommendations for Improvement
RE100 also calls for a massive increase in public investment in the renewable energy sector and making the national green electricity certificate mechanism more transparent and compatible with international standards.
Challenges and Concerns
Japan is one of the largest consumers of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) globally, relying on imports for these fossil fuels. Additionally, the country does not plan to shut down its newest coal-fired power plants but instead aims to adapt them to use ammonia, a gas that does not emit CO2, as fuel.
Japan hopes to apply the same principle to its gas-fired power plants in the future, using hydrogen. However, these technologies are still in the testing phase, and their viability, both environmentally and economically, remains uncertain.
Experts’ Concerns
Many experts believe that this strategy could prolong Japan’s dependence on fossil fuels and divert significant investments away from renewable energy sources.
In its previous strategic energy plan, published in 2021, Japan, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, projected a 36-38% share of renewable energy in its electricity generation by 2030/31.