The trade ministry released Friday a roadmap to shepherd Japan’s economy away from fossil fuels, and foster growth in green energy industries to bring within reach Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s pledge to eliminate net carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
The report — which calls for strong government spending to subsidize and incentivize emissions reduction, and innovation in more than a dozen industries — details the potential economic growth that can be expected if the country reaches net zero carbon emissions.
Not only does the plan provide a tentative framework to support Suga’s vow in October to achieve decarbonization within three decades, it represents a major shift in the central government’s attitude in treating renewable energy not as a barrier to economic growth but as a catalyst.
“To divest from fossil fuels, shift to renewable energy and eliminate carbon emissions should not be seen as a restriction of economic activity, but as an opportunity to take advantage of inevitable change,” a trade ministry official told reporters Thursday. “The central government will stand behind the private sector in leading the shift to a carbon free society.”
The report designates 14 industries in which significant growth and investment are key to achieve decarbonization. These include offshore wind, ammonia fuel, hydrogen, nuclear energy, cars, shipping, airlines, semiconductors, logistics, agriculture, carbon recycling, housing, energy recycling and the lifestyles of individual people.
According to the trade ministry’s outline, the government aims to raise offshore wind energy output to 45 million kilowatt-hours by 2040, hydrogen power consumption to 20 million tons by 2050, promote nuclear energy abroad but halt domestic projects, decarbonize the agriculture industry and reduce coal-fired power consumption to the point where carbon recycling technology can be developed to nullify the remaining harmful emissions.
By targeting these industries, the trade ministry aims to mobilize more than ¥240 trillion in private sector savings through investment, regulation, subsidies and tax incentives. In doing so, it expects the cumulative economic impact to reach ¥90 trillion in 2030, and ¥190 trillion by 2050.
While the plan is tentative, officials said the government would begin to take steps where it could as soon as possible. They added that the plan was only a projection and that its implementation will depend on the country’s energy portfolio, which is decided by a Strategic Energy Plan set to be revised some time before June 2021, pending government discussions that began in October this year.
Still, questions remain concerning the country’s willingness to overhaul the world’s third largest economy and slash harmful greenhouse gas emissions to curtail climate change. Japan is also the world’s fifth largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
The government aims to reduce the more than 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases the country emitted in 2018, according to the trade ministry, to 930 million in 2030 and net zero by 2050.
At the same time, the ministry projects that domestic demand for electricity will grow by between 30% and 50% by 2050. Electricity accounted for 37% of the country’s carbon emissions in 2018, while 25% came from manufacturing, 17% from transportation and 10% from households and businesses.
The government also aims to ban the sale of new gasoline automobiles in the first half of the 2030s. Trade ministry officials said the country aims to announce some time during the summer of 2021 its plan to make all new commercial and passenger vehicles completely electric.
The plan, however, will not ban the sale of hybrid vehicles. The omission has drawn criticism from opponents who say the government is easing into the transition away from gas-powered cars in a bid to appease automobile manufacturers.
Earlier this month, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced a nearly identical plan for the city, different only in that the capital will aim to ban sales of new gasoline cars by 2030.
“Tokyo has and will continue to lead the country’s efforts to reduce harmful emissions,” Koike said during an exclusive interview Wednesday. “By setting ambitious goals, the capital can push the country forward.”
Suga’s announcement in October — that Japan would strive to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, as was demanded of all countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement — was met with skepticism and doubt from supporters and critics alike.
Climate advocates criticized his commitment to nuclear energy and carbon capture technology, while many private sector corporations in the energy industry were resistant to back a plan that would almost certainly upend their business models.
“With the economy and the environment situated as two pillars of the country’s growth, my administration will make the utmost effort to achieve a green society,” Suga said in October. “It needs to be understood that global warming countermeasures could transform the economy and foster growth, not hinder it.”
The Paris Agreement calls on nations to keep global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a critical benchmark that scientists say would trigger the beginning of a collapse in many of Earth’s ecosystems and spell disaster for humankind.
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OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
