Japan

Japan is an Annex-I country and submitted its Sixth Communication to the UNFCCC in 2013. The Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures was enacted in 1998 as the first climate-dedicated law. This law initially stipulated obligations to create the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan in accordance to reduction commitments. This ended in the fiscal year 2012 following the decision to withdraw from Kyoto Protocol in the second commitment period. The Act was amended to mandate both central and local governments to formulate the Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures from 2013. The new Plan obliges the government to produce a plan containing reduction targets and detailed actions that government entities, business sector and citizens within the jurisdiction shall take to achieve the targets.

Targets for emission reduction have been set by The Fourth Basic Environment Plan (adopted in 2012), stipulating an 80% reduction of GHG emissions by 2050. In 2012, the gov­ern­ment also formulated the Innovative Strategy for Energy and Environment, which was to be followed by a Global Warming Action Plan for the period from 2013. However, after the change of administration at the end of 2012, the government approved a new target of 3.8% reduction below the 2005 baseline. This new target was announced at the Warsaw COP19 Conference in 2013, recalling the previous target of 25%. This new reduction target is a tentative figure that does not take into account the emissions reduction impact of nuclear power use. Based on studies of energy policy and energy mix, the figure will be reviewed and a final target will be set.  In late 2014, the Ministry of the Environment (MOEJ) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) were working on Japan’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) ahead of COP21 in late 2015.

Climate change issues are approved at the Global Warming Prevention Headquarters, comprised of all members of the cabinet and led by the Prime Minister.

Energy supply

According to the International Energy Agency, the energy mix in 2012 was 47% oil, 24% natural gas, 23% coal, 3% hydro, 2% renewable energy and 1% nuclear power. Before the shutdown of the nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power accounted for approximately 13% of primary energy (2010 figures). Oil, coal and natural gas are mostly imported.

The triple disaster in 2011, including the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, triggered a heated public debate on nuclear power. The government set up the Energy and Environment Council, tasked with examining a redefinition of national energy strategy and climate change countermeasures. In 2012, the Council examined three nuclear dependency scenarios (0%, 15%, 20–25% nuclear power ) and advocated the lower dependency scenarios and an increased ‘green energy’ share in their Innovate Strategy for Energy and Environ­ment.

The change of administration in late 2012 led to prominent voices calling for nuclear power to be acknowledged as an important baseload power source, which contributes to the stability of energy demand structure. Accordingly, the Energy Basic Plan was revised in April 2014, to re-include nuclear energy in the energy mix; however, it aims to lower the dependence on nuclear power as much as possible by the promotion of energy savings, the introduction of renewable energy, and the promotion of the efficiency of thermal power plants.

It has been stipulated that operations at nuclear facilities will resume, but that reactors must pass the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspections and meet the most severe regulatory standard in the world. It remains to be seen how the December 2014 elections (in which the Liberal Democratic Party administration kept power) will influence the nuclear energy strategy.

Zero-carbon power plants are viewed as essential to achieve the long-term goal of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050; a project by the Ministry of Environment to promote CCS in coal-fired power plants was started in 2014 and budgeted at JPY1.2 bn (USD10.2m) for the fiscal year 2014.

Energy demand

Energy efficiency has been widely practised in Japan. An energy conservation law was introduced as early as 1979 following the oil crises in the 1970s. The law has served as the foundation of energy demand policy; it has been revised numerous times, lastly in November 2014. The Energy Conservation Act concerns energy efficiency in building structures and reporting by companies.

The 2003 amendment to the Basic Act on Energy Policy promotes energy demand and supply related policies in a long-term, compre­hensive, and strategic manner. Subsequently, voluntary energy efficiency and conservation measures have expanded widely. The MOEJ-led campaigns since 2005, COOL BIZ and WARM BIZ, have encouraged people to dress down so that use of air conditioning could be limited (keeping building temperature at 28°C in summer and 20°C in winter).

Numerous subsidies have been introduced by MOEJ, METI and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to support investment for energy efficiency in buildings, housings and business as well as use of renewable energy and introduction of cogeneration. This includes the subsidy on interest payment (maximum 1% annually) for so-called “eco-loan” businesses, which reduced the amount of CO₂ emission by more than 5% within the 5 years of the start of the loan. Eco-point schemes have been introduced for various sectors, allowing consumers of verified green products and services to attain eco-points that could be exchanged to other products and services. The MOEJ-led home electronics eco-point scheme (2009 -2011) was available to consumers of home electronic appliances that attained level 4 energy efficiency and above (green home electronics). The housing eco-point scheme (2009-2014) was jointly led by the MOEJ, METI and MLIT, by which the issued eco-points could also be donated to support the reconstruction of areas damaged by the 2011 disaster.

In 2012 the Low Carbon City Promotion Act entered into force, establishing a recognition system for low-emitting buildings, as a part of a plan to incentivise low carbon cities.

Carbon pricing

The Act on Purchase of Renewable Energy Sourced Electricity by Electric Utilities, approved in 2011, introduced a feed-in tariff system for renewable energy and a carbon taxation system. The carbon tax is designed to help reduce emissions of GHGs and builds on the pre-existing tax regime on crude oil and coal imports. The intro­duction of the carbon tax is one of the items of the Tax Reform Act 2012.

In 2005, Japan’s Voluntary Emission Trading Scheme (JVETS) was established by the Ministry of the Environment Japan. There is also a carbon offset credit system called Japan-Verified Emission Reduction (J-VER), which started in 2008. At subnational level, Tokyo launched a mandatory carbon reduction scheme which includes the Tokyo ETS. The Saitama prefecture also has a voluntary ETS.

Transportation
The sixth communication to the UNFCCC (2013) states that the government will aim to increase the share of highly energy-efficient next-generation vehicles in the new car sales from 50% to 70% by 2030. Tax incentives for low-polluting and next-generation cars, though not explicitly designed to cut CO₂ emission, are expected to increase the share of next-generation vehicles that would contribute to carbon reduction. There are two types of automobile tax schemes: green tax on motor vehicles and eco-car tax reduction scheme. The green tax (introduced 2002) provides a tax break for low-polluting vehicles and increases tax rates for petroleum-based vehicles more than 13 years old and diesel vehicles more than 11 years old. The eco-car tax reduction (introduced in 2009) is applicable for vehicles meeting emission standards, including EVs. The tax reduction is 50-100% for automobile weight tax and 60-100% for automobile acquisition tax (as of 14 January 2015). Consequently, new generation cars accounted for 23.3% of new car sales in 2013 as opposed to 3% in 2008.

The government also announced it will support bulk purchases of EVs that will lead to a price reduction, support research and development to extend a cruising range and reduce cost. Efforts are being made to review regulations and support release of fuel-cell vehicles to the market in 2015 – hydrogen infrastructure will be expanded and supported. Additional initiatives are mentioned in the communication to the UNFCCC, such as supporting modal shifts and public transportation, improved flow of traffic and environmentally friendly usage of vehicles.

In January 2015 the cabinet partially amended the Law on Special Tax Measures. The amendment reduces tax rates and extends the types of automobile subject to green taxes. Newly introduced car includes clean-diesel automobiles (that meet 2009 gas emission standard), for which the tax is reduced by 75%. This reform will also extend tax reduction for new light automobiles. A planned tax increase for two wheelers will be postponed from 1 April 2015 to 1 April 2016.

Adaptation

Japan is highly vulnerable to the following impacts of climate change: sea level rise leading to serious and frequent high tides and coastal erosions; more intense typhoons leading to more serious and frequent floods and sediment disasters; and a variation in precipitation and earlier snow melt changing river flow and water use patterns and leading to droughts in summer. Most adaptation measures are taken at subnational level. Several prefectures have established measures, for example, alert systems to floods and heat strokes in the Kyoto prefecture, a task force for adaptation in the Nagano prefecture and coastal protection and water resource management in the Okinawa action plan.

At the national level, the main efforts have focused on research identifying challenges in light of a future adaptation plan. A key element in this was the 2010 report published by a cross-sectoral Committee on Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation, compiled by scientists, professionals from the main sectors and local and national government representatives. In 2012 a new comprehensive report on observation and prediction of climate change was published. The main findings are to be discussed in early 2015, and a national adaptation plan is expected by summer 2015.