On October 26, 2020, former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide declared that Japan aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
According to the European Parliament, carbon neutrality means having a balance between carbon emission and carbon absorption from the atmosphere in carbon sinks.
Removing carbon oxide from the atmosphere and then storing it is known as carbon sequestration. To achieve net zero emissions, all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will have to be offset by carbon sequestration.
In order to achieve its goal, Japan aims to reduce GHG emissions to virtually zero by 2050 and realize a decarbonized society.
On December 25, 2020, the government formulated a «Strategy for Green Growth through Carbon Neutrality by 2050,» which sets ambitious targets for 14 key fields in the energy, transportation, manufacturing, home and office sectors.
This strategy makes explicit the current challenges and future actions by priority fields, and formulates action plans covering comprehensive policies in areas such as budgeting, taxation, regulatory and standardization reforms, and international collaboration.
Carbon neutrality
In addition, on June 9, 2021, the government decided on a regional decarbonization roadmap outlining the process and concrete measures for the transition to a decarbonized society.
Based on this roadmap, the Japanese government aims to spread decarbonization throughout Japan by creating at least 100 leading decarbonization areas by fiscal 2030 and implementing priority measures that will serve as the basis for decarbonization throughout Japan, especially through an intensive five-year period of policy implementation.
Japan has been striving to reduce its dependence on oil by encouraging energy conservation and the use of alternative fuels.
The administration of the current prime minister, Kishida Fumio, has succeeded the policy of the previous prime minister, Suga Yoshihide. On June 7, 2022, the Japanese government announced the «Basic Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform Policy 2022,» which aims to focus on investment in green transformation (GX).
