Agenda
Challenges
Since Japan has relied on imports for almost entire volumes of oil it needs as a strategic commodity, the oil industry operations centering on refining and marketing have been placed under a variety of government controls for nearly half a century without being exposed to international competition.
From the perspective of both supply and climate security, the current energy system and the policies that shape it are therefore highly unsustainable, and need to be changed radically. Supporters of nuclear power believe that it should play an increasingly important role in this new, highly efficient, zero emissions energy sector, as they argue that all low-CO2 emission technologies will be needed.
Japan has very limited domestic oil reserves, amounting to 44 million barrels and is only 16 percent energy self-sufficient. Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China and the third-largest net importer of crude oil. It is the world's largest importer of both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal.
Political
Of all the world's industrial nations, Japan's task in meeting targets set in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 are perhaps the most formidable. Its economy is stagnant while its carbon emissions per unit of industrial output are already the world's lowest, yet the government has committed to a 6% reduction in greenhouse gases, which is only a 1% smaller reduction than that proposed for the United States.
Status
Growth
In 1990 the country's dependence on imports for primary energy stood at more than 84 percent. Its rapid industrial growth since the end of World War II had doubled energy consumption every five years. The use of power had also changed qualitatively. In 1950 coal supplied half of Japan's energy needs, hydroelectricity one-third, and oil the rest.
In 1988 oil provided Japan with 57.3 percent of energy needs, coal 18.1 percent, natural gas 10.1 percent, nuclear power 9.0 percent, hydroelectric power 4.6 percent, geothermal power 0.1 percent, and 1.3 percent came from other sources. During the 1960-72 period of accelerated growth, energy consumption grew much faster than GNP, doubling Japan's consumption of world energy.
By 1976, with only 3 percent of the world's population, Japan was consuming 6 percent of global energy supplies. In 1990, the latest year for which complete statistics were available, Japan's total energy requirements were tabulated at 428.2 million tons of petroleum equivalent. Of this total, 84 percent was imported. Consumption totalled 298 million tons: 46.7 percent of which was used by industry; 23.3 percent by the transportation sector; 26.6 percent for agricultural, residential, services, and other uses; and 3.3 percent for non-energy use.
Institutional Structure
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) was one of the most powerful agencies of the Government of Japan. At the height of its influence, it effectively ran much of Japanese industrial policy, funding research and directing investment. In 2001, its role was taken over by the newly created Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Budget
Perhaps because of the challenge of the climate change situation, Japan is still quite serious about maintaining and expanding the nuclear option, both to alleviate energy dependence and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Japanese government's budget for nuclear power in fiscal year 1999 is 477 billion yen ($4.03 billion), while the budget for renewables is 87.5 billion yen ($739 million).
Key Policies
Recent Legislation
The Japanese Cabinet has approved revisions to various key policies including energy, which has placed significance on nuclear power. In the meeting the Cabinet drew up guidelines for various key policies in view of the changes that have emerged following the March 11 earthquake and nuclear disaster.
Under the plan, the new growth strategy panel is to resume meetings by the end of May and present a strategy for Japan's revival by the end of the year. The meetings had been suspended since the disaster. The state energy policy, which has placed nuclear power as a key pillar, is to be fundamentally reviewed.
Miscellaneous
Further Information
Though Japan is the country using energy most efficiently in the world, it also faces future risks due to its dependability on foreign sources of energy resources, particularly oil. In order to counteract this and to address today’s environmental issues, the Japanese government has in the Strategic Energy Plan of Japan 2010” set ambitious goals toward 2030. The development in the energy sector of Japan, now supplemented with the new ambitious energy plan, points toward a promising future on the Japanese market for companies involved in new energy technologies.
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