Japan to promote EVs, wind power towards carbon neutrality

The Japanese government unveiled an action plan that specifies 14 key areas to promote electric vehicles and offshore wind power generation as part of Japan's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in the battle against climate change.

The key areas include the use of hydrogen as a power source and carbon recycling.

Through its "green growth strategy," Japan will support decarbonization and electrification in the private sector to help eliminate net carbon dioxide emissions.

The Japanese government aims to ban sales of new gasoline-only cars by the mid-2030s at the latest and locate more charging stations to achieve the goal. It will also seek to increase its offshore wind power output to 10 gigawatts in 2030 and up to 45 gigawatts in 2040.

There are also efforts to commercialize gas turbine power generators using hydrogen and fuel cell trucks to reduce carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the country will promote technologies such as mixing carbon dioxide with concrete to absorb released greenhouse gas.

It is estimated that the growth strategy would generate economic effects worth around 90 trillion yen in 2030 and 190 trillion yen in 2050, including sales and investment induced by new demand.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a government panel meeting discussing the action plan that dealing with global warming is now considered an opportunity for growth.

The panel will work out details of the strategy by next summer and may revise numerical goals.