A 26-year-old solar executive who jolted Japan’s government by making a rare public criticism of the nation’s climate policies is urging others to keep pressing legislators to show more ambition.
Shota Ikeda was among 20 outside experts asked to contribute to a process that saw the nation’s cabinet approve plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2035 from 2013 levels, a goal seen by analysts and campaigners as falling short of required action.
Ikeda had called for emissions reductions of at least 75% to be considered and sharply criticized the consultation as discouraging genuine debate in a nation that remains among the world’s largest polluters.
“It’s important to continue speaking up,” said Ikeda, president of renewable energy firm Hachidori Solar, which provides rooftop solar panels to households. “It’s all over if we stop calling things out — we need to keep talking about how things should be.”
Japan’s annual emissions fell about 4% in the 12 months through March 2024 to a record low, amid a slowdown in manufacturing and weaker energy consumption, according to government data published last month. Even so, that rate of decline is seen by climate analysts as too slow to enable the nation to meet an ambition of hitting net zero by mid-century.
Advocates for faster climate action argue Japan remains overly reliant on a potential revival of nuclear power to displace fossil fuels and reduce pollution levels. They also criticize the nation, like some other developed countries, for measuring cuts against a year during which emissions were elevated — in this case 2013, when atomic power plants remained shuttered following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.
“I was asked for my frank opinions, but I’m skeptical,” Ikeda told a session of the expert committee in November, addressing a group of bureaucrats and academics in a staid government conference room. He wondered if “these meetings are all for show,” Ikeda told his fellow participants. The panel was convened by Japan’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Japan’s government insists its emissions-cutting pathway is ambitious and consistent with efforts to limit warming to 1.5C. Outside experts including Ikeda debated proposals for 10 hours across three sessions and committee members “agreed that next pathways had been thoroughly discussed in the meetings,” the economy ministry said in a statement.
Ikeda claims his initial attempt in October to call for steeper emissions cutting was blocked because his opinion was considered “out of step,” and that his proposals then met a muted reaction when he finally addressed the panel. “I called out that something was wrong, but looking around everyone was calm,” said Ikeda. “I was sad that something important about the future was being decided by these people.”
Government officials said Ikeda wasn’t delayed in setting out his view, and instead had been asked to present during a session with an agenda more in line with his remarks.
Japan’s emissions trajectory has been influenced by expert scientific and technical panels for decades, though the practice of using consultative bodies has faced criticism as ineffective and often unrepresentative of the country’s society.
The panels haven’t been a place for “fruitful discussions” but rather for making minor adjustments to targets proposed by government officials, said Erik Goto, a researcher with the Tokyo-based Renewable Energy Institute, a non-profit that advocates for the use of clean energy. “There is this tactic of pushing through already decided, already agreed upon on numbers,” he said.
A study of participants on 15 consultative bodies on Japan’s energy policy found the majority were aged in their 50s to 70s, that men on average accounted for 75% of the membership of each panel, and that many were associated with power-intensive industries, Climate Integrate, a think tank that advocates for decarbonization, said in an April 2024 report.
“Substantive consideration” was given to Japan’s revised climate target by stakeholders including NGOs, labor unions, industry, academics and local authorities, the government said in its Nationally Determined Contribution document lodged with the United Nations. Japan is one of only 21 of the 195 Paris Agreement signatories to have submitted an updated plan in line with the accord, UN data shows.
Ikeda said he had worried during the consultation process that bureaucrats were too willing to endorse weak climate goals, rather than fully consider alternatives. “Have they imagined what 2050 might look like for their children and grandchildren,” he said. “I wanted to ask them if they were really thinking about the younger generations.”
Japan’s environment ministry conceded at a December meeting that the government’s proposed 2035 targets — circulated only toward the end of a previous session, and with little time left for debate — had been presented too hastily. “I think it’s difficult to claim that there was enough discussion,” Masako Konishi, an expert director at the WWF Japan and a member of the consultation committee, said at the time.
Attention was paid “to the balance of expertise, age groups, and gender,” and to ensure committee members included specialists in energy and finance who had familiarity with environmental issues,” the environment ministry said in a statement. “We had intensive discussions, received various opinions, and then took into account public comments and other factors when formulating the plan, so we believe that we have proceeded with the process while holding as careful discussions as possible.”
To encourage reforms, voters should follow Ikeda’s lead in publicly criticizing the system of devising climate policy, said Seita Emori, a professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives at the University of Tokyo, and a former member of an expert committee that debated Japan’s previous 2030 climate target.
“It may be necessary to make politicians think that issues like these will affect votes,” Emori said. “What happened this time around may just be a ripple, but people will need to continue raising their voices at various opportunities so that change can take place.’
With assistance from Aaron Clark and Stephen Stapczynski.
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