RE100 corporate initiative calls on Japan to triple renewable capacity by 2035

TOKYO (Reuters) – RE100, a global corporate initiative to support renewable energy procurement, called on Tuesday for the Japanese government to take urgent and concrete steps to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2035 from 2022 levels r.

Japan is currently working on its next energy fundamental plan, a key long-term strategy for the resource-poor country that aims to balance energy security and decarbonization to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The RE100 committee recommended that Japan set a target in its upcoming energy plan to triple its installed renewable energy capacity from 121 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 363 GW by 2035 at the latest, the statement said.

The document’s policy recommendations also include calling on the government to help implement more renewable energy projects, shorten the grid connection time for new renewable energy projects, and mobilize 17.9-18.1 trillion yen (112.32-113.58 billion dollars) for public and private investments until 2025 and 2030 towards renewable energy sources and related technologies.

The initiative, which claims to have more than 400 members worldwide, says half of them operated in Japan and 87 are based there. It said its members identified Japan as the second most challenging market for renewable energy due to high costs and limited supply. RE100 found that those doing business in Japan currently meet only 25% of their electricity needs from renewable energy sources, which is half the global average.

More than 100 countries, including Japan, pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 at last year’s COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai to reduce the share of fossil fuels in global energy production.

“These commitments now need to be met with concrete action to rapidly increase Japan’s installed renewable energy capacity,” Ollie Wilson, head of RE100, said in a statement.

($1 = 159.3600 yen)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Tomasz Janowski)