Feature

2050 Carbon Neutrality Declaration

In October 2020, Prime Minister SUGA declared that Japan will aim to realize a decarbonized society by 2050, in other words to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.

Moreover, Prime Minister SUGA instructed within the Global Warming Prevention Headquarters to accelerate the reviews on the "Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures," the "Strategic Energy Plan," and the "Long-term Strategy under the Paris Agreement," and to tackle as a whole cabinet.

In view to coordinate overall climate change measures, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) will work on the transition of the economy and society by engaging in new ways of developing regions to consume locally generated renewable energy which is disaster-resilient and CO2 free, along with encouraging changes in people's lifestyles, and shifting to a circular economy.

Regional Development Based on Decarbonization by Local Governments

Non-governmental actors' efforts, including local governments, businesses, and non-profits/nongovernmental organizations, are essential to Japan's aim to realize a decarbonized society.

Local governments in Japan are currently promoting the initiative to achieve net-zero carbon or greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (Zero Carbon Cities). As of January 13, 2021, 206 local governments have declared their commitments, representing a total population of over 90 million people.

Meanwhile, best practices and tools must be disseminated at a largescale, as many local governments face difficulties in formulating longterm plans and objectives aimed at achieving net-zero carbon emissions, identifying emissions monitoring methods, and analyzing data. The implementation of renewable energy particularly depends on community acceptance, as shown by delays in increasing number of past project implementations. It is therefore crucial to establish community acceptance building processes and to promote renewable energy projects maximizing benefits for communities.

Additionally, it is extremely important that actions jointly address intensifying disasters caused by large earthquakes or floods, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of renewable energy at evacuation facilities which provide electricity in disaster situations and equip communities with infection control measures are essential to coordinate climate change and disaster prevention.

Support by the National Government

1. Support for the formulation of implementation plans

The national government encourages community building toward local governments’ decarbonization to support local governments in the formulation of their long-term plans and objectives toward realizing net-zero carbon cities taking into account their regional characteristics.  This support includes improving local governments’ greenhouse gas emissions visualization systems, tools, and methods to calculate and analyze emission sources and basic data, as well as providing the most up-to-date information.

Furthermore, the national government is committed to accelerate the adoption of renewable energies in ways that benefit communities by providing support for planning the local government-led introduction of renewable  energies in communities by identifying communities’ degree of acceptance

2. Support project implementation

Based on the aforementioned issues and context, Japan aims to achieve the expansion of renewable energy supply by supporting plans to implement renewable energy production facilities adapted to regional needs. The implementation of this project will facilitate consensus building among community members, secure the production of renewable energy, and ensure local businesses' access to renewable energy in their move toward decarbonization and sustainability. Further, it will contribute to revitalizing regions, creating new business opportunities, decentralizing society, and strengthening communities' resilience by providing power in disaster situations.

In addition to the introduction of renewable energy in evacuation centers to provide power in disaster situations, MOE will equip regional disaster prevention systems with high-performance ventilators and infection control measures, in order to simultaneously improve regional resilience and achieve decarbonization.

Renewable Energy Potential System (REPOS)
Mapping data on renewable energy resource potential. The map shows regional wind conditions.

In addition to existing solar power generation equipment, new solar power generation equipment, storage batteries and highly-efficient air-conditioning were installed. These upgrades will contribute to reducing the CO2 emissions of the facility and also enhance its functioning by supplying electricity from storage batteries to the air-conditioning system during a disaster. (Tateyama Town, Toyama Prefecture)

A woody biomass boiler fueled by wood pellets has been introduced at the Children's Center, which provides support for balancing work and child-rearing, as well as comprehensive consultation and support for certified childcare centers and rehabilitation and support for children with disabilities. This will reduce CO2 emissions from the facility and enable the use of heating (floor heating) in the event of a disaster, thereby reducing the physical burden on evacuees in the event of a disaster. (Ashoro Town, Hokkaido)

Introducing Innovations in Society

1. Renewable energy

MOE supports the supply of renewable energy and encourages the switch to renewable energy.
For example, MOE provides incentives for houses and office buildings equipped with solar power eneration and supports companies and local governments providing evacuation centers with combined solar power generation and storage batteries.

Among renewable energy generation options, floating offshore wind power generation is particularly promising in Japan, with its many areas of deep water offering the potential to supply a large volume of renewable energy at a low cost in the future.

Accordingly, MOE has been working on the development of floating offshore wind power generation technology since FY2010 and has developed Japan's first commercial-scale offshore wind power system off the coast of Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture. This facility has been confirmed to be disaster-resistant, even in the event of a typhoon with a wind speed of 55 meters per second. Similarly, the project was implemented smoothly following consensus building with the fisheries union and other local stakeholders and revitalizing the region by bringing visitors.

In addition, MOE has developed a work vessel (semi-submersible ship) to improve the efficiency of offshore installations and is planning to use this ship to facilitate the construction of offshore wind turbines off the coast of Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture.

Going forward and depending on upcoming results on demonstration projects and the development of the semi-submersible work ship, MOE will promote the commercial deployment of floating offshore wind power throughout Japan, in accordance with the Act

2. Hydrogen

Hydrogen combustion does not emit CO2, but sourcing hydrogen from fossil fuels emits CO2. On the other hand, the production of hydrogen from renewable energy does not emit CO2 from its production to its combustion. For this reason, hydrogen, especially hydrogen sourced from renewable energy, has an extremely important role to play in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Accordingly, MOE has been working to develop a decarbonized hydrogen supply chain in 10 regions across Japan sourced from local renewable energy. As such, it is taking the lead in efforts to realize a "decarbonized hydrogen lifestyle" that incorporates the use of hydrogen in daily lives and delivers hydrogen in existing distribution networks. In parallel, MOE is supporting the introduction of fuel cell buses.

Additionally, work has already begun on a project to build a model for the utilization of hydrogen sourced from renewable energy, supplied in large quantities from the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) in Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture, as efforts to coordinate decarbonization and reconstruction move forward.

Furthermore, hydrogen may be able to contribute to the realization of a circular economy in a carbon neutral society achieved by 2050. MOE, for example, is promoting a project to produce hydrogen from used plastics. Another project aims to produce fuels such as methane and ethanol, as well as raw materials for plastics out of CO2 and hydrogen separated and recovered from waste treatment facilities.

3. CCUS

It is essential to implement CCUS (Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilization and Storage) technologies to go beyond carbon neutrality and be carbon negative, by capturing and effectively utilizing and storing CO2 emissions, even after the development of renewable energy and energy conservation measures.

An example of MOE's efforts is recovering CO2 from the exhaust gas from waste treatment facilities for fuels and raw materials to manufacture high value-added products such as cosmetics and supplements containing microalgae, methane, and ethanol.

In addition, MOE is working on Japan's first commercial-scale CCS (Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage) demonstration project in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture, started in 2020. This is expected to be the world's first commercial-scale BECCS (Bio-energy CCS) project to capture, separate and store biomass- derived CO2.

In addition, MOE has just started a demonstration project for Direct Air Capture (DAC), a CCUS technology which captures CO2 from the atmosphere for direct use.

URL: Zero Carbon City