Politics of climate change and energy policy in Japan: Is green transformation likely?

While being proud of comparatively high levels of energy efficiency and having experienced the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it may be presumed that Japan would become a leader in the global energy transition. On the contrary, however, Japan has demonstrated a degree of intransigence around deep decarbonization. Why does Japan not take leadership in the energy transition and arrest climate change? What is the context for Japanese climate/energy policymaking? What is the context for the 2050 net-zero target, what are the obstacles, and which actors could assist effectively in accelerating this transition? This article considers new drivers for national policy as well as the influence of exogenous domestic and international forces. This leads to the question of whether the 2050 carbon neutrality policy goal could deliver a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. It presents an analytical framework to explain Japan’s evolving climate-energy nexus, illuminating core variables hampering and enabling the attainment of the net-zero 2050 target.