September 9, 2021

Statement on the Draft of the Sixth Basic Energy Plan
We welcome the increased share of renewables in the 2030 energy mix and the addition of the“renewables first principle”, and call for continuous efforts to further increase
the share renewables beyond 38%.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has published the draft of the Sixth Basic Energy Plan for
public consultation. We, Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership (JCLP), express our views on the draft as
follows.
1.

We welcome the increased share of renewable energy in the 2030 energy mix 1 and the additionof the “renewable first principle” which gives the highest priority to renewables. We commend
and respect those whose efforts made these changes possible.
The draft plan aims at 36 - 38% renewable energy in the 2030 energy mix, an increase from theprevious target of 22 - 24%. It also states that efforts will be made to introduce renewable energy
based on the “renewable first principle”. These changes underscore the Japanese government’s
commitment to achieve the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target and we express our deepest
respect for the efforts made by ministries and stakeholders to make these changes possible.

2.

We expect to see continuous efforts to further increase the share of renewables beyond 38%
toward the achievement the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.
In order to protect our lives and society from climate crisis, we have proposed 50% renewables in
the 2030 energy mix as a target in line with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement. 2 We thus believethat there is a need for continued efforts to go beyond 38%. Indeed, the draft plan clarifies that 3638% is “not a cap nor an upper limit” and states that the government will “continuously monitor
progress and review policies in order to expand renewable energy as effectively as possible.” It isimperative that these reviews will be implemented soundly.
We, as a group of businesses, is determined to support the government in improving policies bypresenting our proposals. We will also help increase the share of renewables further by proactively
shifting to clean energy, adopting more energy efficiency measures and mobilizing demand-side
resources such as electric vehicles.

３． We support fading out 3 inefficient coal power plants and call for halting the construction of newcoal power plants.
Coal-fired power generation emits more CO2 than any other power source. Also, as the lifetime islong for coal power plants, there is no room for a new coal power plants if we are to avoid carbon
lock-in. Therefore, we support the policy to “ensure fading out inefficient coal power plants” asstated in the draft plan, and renew our call for halting the construction of new coal power plants. 4END
“Energy mix” commonly indicates power mix in Japanese policy context.
Please refer to JCLP’s proposal for details (in Japanese).
3
Instead of “phase out”, METI uses the word “fade out”.
4
Please refer to JCLP’s proposal for details (in Japanese).
12About Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership (JCLP):
JCLP is a coalition of businesses in Japan (194 companies as of Sept 2021) that aim to create a carbon
neutral society, built on the idea that decarbonization is essential to economic development. The group’s
total sales are 122 trillion JPY (1.1 trillion USD) and total electricity demand amounts to approx. 61 TWh.
It was set up in 2009 to encourage the business sector to develop a sound sense of urgency on climate
action. Since April 2017, JCLP has been the Climate Group’s Regional Delivery Partner on RE100, EP100
and EV100 initiatives in Japan.
URL: http://www.japan-clp.jp/
For inquiries:
JCLP Secretariat
Emai: info-jclp@iges.or.jp Tel: +81-46-855-3814