On July 21, at the 46th Basic Policy Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy, the draft of the 6th Strategic Energy Plan was presented.

In this plan, it was expected that the government would indicate a pathway to reduce coal to zero by 2030, but the composition of the energy mix in 2030 is listed as: 36-38% for renewable energy, 20-22% for nuclear power, 19% for coal, 20% for LNG, 2% for oil and others, and 1% for hydrogen and ammonia.

It can be said that the contents of the draft indicate that the government will continue to depend on coal-fired power generation into the future. Although coal has decreased 7 points from the current plan’s composition of 26%, it still remains at 19%. It also encourages the future use of hydrogen/ammonia, CCUS (carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage), and other future technologies that are not yet commercially viable and have unknown prospective costs.

Regarding renewable energy, although the government insists it has adopted a stance of “working on the principle of highest priority and encouraging maximum adoption,” the actual percentage of renewable energy remains at 36-38%. Compared to the 50-70% 2030 target set by Western and developed countries, this percentage is stubbornly low.

This summer, the Strategic Energy Plan will be finalized and then will be open to public comments. The reason why the world is making progress in phasing out coal by 2030 is that reducing emissions from coal to zero by 2030 is the first thing that needs to be done in order to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is necessary for many people to submit their opinions so that the Strategic Energy Plan can include the goal of zero coal emissions in 2030.

Reference:
46th Basic Policy Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy (Japanese)