In a history-making move on Tuesday, Japan committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2035 in relation to 2013 levels. The country’s environment ministry made this announcement, which is a historic leap in its climate pledge. The environmental campaigners have claimed that the ambition of Tokyo is not good enough to match the world pace needed to deal with climate change.
As per the Paris Agreement, countries are supposed to give their carbon emissions cut targets for 2035 and a clear roadmap to reach there. Japan, the fifth-largest carbon dioxide producer in the world after China, the United States, India and Russia, has hitherto based its economy on imported fossil fuels from foreign nations. With its climate master plan now, the government hopes to speed up the transition to clean energy.
Ambitious Targets, Skeptical Reception
Japan’s new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) includes a 73% cut in emissions by 2040, en route to its 2050 aspiration of net zero. Climate activists are unimpressed, though.
Masayoshi Iyoda of 350.org denounced the target on scientific advice grounds for an 81% reduction by 2035 to meet the 1.5-degree Celsius global warming target. “This is a massive failure in Japan’s transition to a fair and equitable renewable energy future,” he said.
Greenpeace Japan’s Kazue Suzuki likewise shared the same sentiments, citing that a large industry like Japan can strive to reduce by 78%. “This goal is much too low for us in consideration of our responsibility,” Suzuki said.
The Challenge of Powering Japan’s Future
All the criticism, Japan is advancing in a big way on energy policy. The Strategic Energy Plan that it adopted last year sees renewables taking over the power grid by 2040. For sure, the plan too references the country’s ongoing nuclear dependency, moving away from the post-Fukushima position. The government has watered down its earlier commitment to “do away with the use of nuclear power as far as possible” to signal more nuclear passion.
The country’s dependence on fossil fuels persists. In 2023, coal, gas, and oil provided almost 70% of electricity in Japan at a cost of about $470 million worth of fuel per day. The government now wants to reduce this dependence by 30-40% by 2040 while increasing solar and wind generation.
Global Pledges and the Reality Test
While UN climate leader Simon Stiell referred to the new climate pledges as “the most important policy documents of this century,” the world waits with bated breath for the pace-setting action of the big economies. China, India, and the EU, the big players, however, skirted the deadline to submit their new targets. Even Japan’s submission, while welcome, is already being tested as to whether it actually meets the world’s supposedly urgent climate needs.
Tokyo had made an earlier commitment to a 26% reduction in emissions by 2030, later revising it to 46% in 2021. The new revision proposes a slow but cautious step, reconciling economic needs and environmental obligations.
A Green Future or a Political Balancing Act?
Japan’s energy transition is also woven into wider geopolitics. In a draft proposal made public last December, cooperation with the U.S. in clean and hydrogen fuel was the focus. But since the Trump administration pulled America out of the Paris Agreement last month, mentions of U.S.-led green development were noticeably absent. The “certain tweaks” were agreed upon by a ministry of industry official but ensured that the whole “green transformation” would proceed unbridled.
As Japan begins the journey towards a cleaner future, the test is not merely to set ambitious goals but to act on them. With growing international pressure and rising energy needs from AI and microchip manufacturing, Tokyo has to reconcile a complicated balance of economic, environmental, and political interests.
The question is: Is Japan able to meet its climate pledge and maintain energy stability? The answer will be known in the coming decades, as the nation attempts to balance growth and sustainability in an evolving world.
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