Energy policy: Wait till summer

November 26, 2014

Industry minister sets summer deadline for energy policy

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201411260046

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

With pressure growing from both anti-nuclear activists and proponents of nuclear power, the industry minister said Nov. 25 that Japan’s energy policy will be determined by next summer.

“We want to decide as soon as possible after studying the state of resumption of nuclear power plants, the spread of renewable energies and the results of international negotiations on global climate change,” Yoichi Miyazawa, minister of economy, trade and industry, said after a Cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been reluctant to make a decision on the ratios of nuclear power and other energy sources amid divided public opinion on nuclear power generation following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Both opponents and proponents have called for a numerical commitment from the government.

But with a Lower House election slated for Dec. 14, the Abe administration apparently wants to gain public understanding by showing it is actively working on energy policy.

Miyazawa is the first industry minister to clearly set a deadline for the nation’s energy mix, or the range of energy sources to be used in Japan after the Fukushima disaster.

He added that the decision on the new energy policy could come sooner than the summer deadline.

“I do not mean that we will make the decision next summer, but that we will decide as soon as possible,” he said.

All of Japan’s 48 nuclear reactors are currently offline.

Japan’s new energy policy could also help determine its commitment to cutting emissions of greenhouse gases as part of international efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.

The European Union pledged in October to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030, and the United States and China recently agreed to lower their emissions of greenhouse gases.