Press Release

Energy Transition: Disruptive change requires
international cooperation
The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council presents results of
its two-year work
Berlin/ Tokyo Friday, 20th April 2018. The challenges and also potentials of the energy transition
are tremendous in Germany, as well as in Japan. Sometimes, structures of the old energy world
need “creative destruction” to clear the way for innovations for a decarbonized, low-risk energy
system. In these times of disruptive changes, a constructive and sometimes controversial dialog
within leading industrial nation as Japan and Germany over the energy transition is even more
important. The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) today released results of two
years of fruitful dialogue.
The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council is an international model project to strengthen theexchange of knowledge over technologies, policies and the effects of the energy transition. The
concept is based on the conviction that joint solutions accelerate the realization of the energy
transition, if national differences, different interests, motivations and values between the partner are
made transparent, clearly articulated and respected. This can also serve as an example for othercountries.
Besides the 800 pages of study results of the German-Japanese research consortia on core subjectsof the energy transition, the council also published a row of strategical input papers. In threestakeholder dialogues with the industry, with producers and users of energy efficiency technologies
and with decentralized actors of the energy transition, as well as in two outreach events with 100
participants each the Council continuously searched for a broad discussion with the public.
Today, the council presented a summarizing report for the first project phase. It includes jointly
formulated recommendations for politics as well as a controversial dialogue part. Around 80 experts
from ministries, industry and academia as well as parliamentarians and NGOs attended thepresentation of the report in the Press and Visitors’ Center of the Federal Government in Berlin.
The Council jointly states and recommends that:--Ambitious long-term targets and strategies for a low-carbon energy system must be defined andambitiously implemented; Germany and Japan as high technology countries need to take theleadership.
Both countries will have to restructure their energy systems substantially until 2050 while
maintaining their competitiveness and securing energy supply.
Highest priority is given to the forced implementation of efficiency technologies and renewableenergies, despite different views on nuclear energy.

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In both countries all relevant stakeholders – but above all the decision-makers on all levels ofenergy policy - need to increase their efforts for a successful implementation of the energy
transition.
Design of the electricity market needs more incentives for flexibility options and for theextensive expansion of variable power generation, alongside with strategies for cost reduction
for electricity from photovoltaic and wind energy.
The implementation gap of the energy efficiency needs to be closed by an innovative energy
policy package to promote the principle of “Energy Efficiency First”.
Synergies and co-benefits of an enhanced energy and resource efficiency policy need to berealized.
Co-existence of central infrastructure and the growing diversity of the activities fordecentralization (citizens funding, energy cooperatives, establishment of public utilitycompanies) should be supported.
Scientific cooperation can be intensified by a joint working group for scenarios and by theestablishment of an academic exchange program.

The members of the Council jointly determined that “the GJETC has created a format and role model,that enables science-based policy advice, close to politics but independent from politicalinterference.“ The members of the Council therefore agreed that the successful work of the GJETC
should be continued and raised to a new level in a second phase (2018-2020).
The summarizing report can be downloaded on the homepage of the GJETC: www.gjetc.org
About the GJETC:
Founded in May 2016, the „German-Japanese Energy Transition Council“ (GJETC) analyzed core
issues of energy policy and energy economy, identified common challenges and discussed differencesin perception, concepts and framework conditions, in order to give recommendations for politics,
industry and civil society. The main objective is to show long-term perspectives on the way to theambitious goal of the Energiewende.
In its form, continuity and size, the GJETC is the first German-Japanese project of cooperation on theenergy transition. It was founded in close collaboration of the Wuppertal Institute, ECOS Consult,hennicke.consult, and the Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) in spring 2016 with strong
support by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (German Federal Environmental Foundation, DBU),
the Mercator Foundation, German Federal Foreign Office (FFO), Japanese Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry (METI) and is also endorsed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs andEnergy (BMWi), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety(BMU) and the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB). On the German side, the Wuppertal Instituteand ECOS Consult support the council's work as secretariats; on the Japanese side, the Institute ofEnergy Economics Japan (IEEJ) takes over this part.
For further information: www.gjetc.org

Press contact in Germany:
Kevin Hohmann
Medienbüro am Reichstag GmbH
Reinhardtstraße 55
10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2061 4130 50
E-Mail: kevin.hohmann@mar-berlin.de

Press contact in Japan:
General Planning GroupThe Institute of Energy Economics, Japan
Inui Bldg.Kachidoki 10th Floor, 13-1, Kachidoki 1-chome, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo 104-0054
Phone: +81-3-5547-0211
E-mail: contact-ieej@tky.ieej.or.jp