TOKYO – Japan will consider slashing emissions by 66 per cent by fiscal year 2035, from 2013 levels, as the nation kicks off a review of its energy mix strategy, the Nikkei reported on April 15. 

The government aims to provide companies a better long-term outlook for investment decisions through a revised energy mix target that will extend to fiscal 2040, the report said, without attribution. The current strategy, which was last updated in 2021, includes targets for power generation as far as fiscal 2030, with a goal to reduce emissions by 46 per cent by that year. 

Japan is considering the 66 per cent emissions reduction as its new climate target that is expected to be submitted to the United Nations in 2025 under the Paris Agreement, according to the article. Signatories to the climate deal are expected to submit revisions that extend climate goals to 2035.

The head of Japan’s utility lobby said last week that the country should include more precise guidance on the role of nuclear in its revision to the energy mix strategy, as data centres and other IT-related facilities will increase power demand. The country currently has a target for nuclear to make up as much as 22 per cent of the power mix by 2030, from less than 10 per cent today. 

An official at Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy told Bloomberg News that nothing has been decided, and that discussions over the energy mix strategy have yet to start. BLOOMBERG