Publication date: March 15, 2024
On March 5, the Cabinet approved a bill to amend the Global Warming Countermeasures Promotion Act.Since its introduction in 1998, this bill has had a series of amendments and remains one of the key climate laws in Japan.
In its current form, the law promotes environmental conservation and economic and social development, with the aim of achieving a decarbonized society by 2050. It encourages close cooperation between central and local government, citizens, and companies to achieve these goals. It also includes a zoning system for renewable energy, in which municipalities must designate “renewable energy promotion areas” based on national and municipal standards.
The amendment that the Cabinet approved last week will:
- Improve the implementation of the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM): This mechanism facilitates the deployment of various Japanese decarbonization technologies to other countries and attempts to measure their contribution to Japan’s emissions reduction. This amendment standardizes and improves the issuance and management of the JCM. A new organization will be set up to coordinate these processes.
- Unify the regional renewable energy promotion zoning system: Today, only municipalities have the power to designate zones for renewable energy development. This amendment will allow prefectures and municipalities to jointly designate these promotion areas, with prefectures approving zoning plans that span multiple municipalities.
- Incentivize citizens’ behavior change: The amendment will provide an incentivization framework that encourages citizens to choose products and goods that have lower associated lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
The bill will now be submitted to the 213th session of the Diet currently in session. Assuming that it passes the Diet, the act is scheduled to be implemented from April 1, 2025.
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