Which future? Japan’s net zero vision for the region boosts gas and threatens green exports in Australia

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Which future? Japan’s net zero vision for the region boosts gas and threatens green exports in Australia

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Japan has a very clear vision of what the Asia-Pacific’s clean energy future looks like—decarbonization, but done slowly and with a longer role for coal, oil and gas.

It was on full display this week as energy ministers from nine South-East ****** nations, Japan and Australia gathered in Jakarta to hash out a shared vision for Asia’s energy future, under Japan’s ****** Zero Emissions Community (AZEC) initiative launched

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.

But there’s a clear problem here. Japan’s vision clashes directly with Australia’s efforts to become a green export superpower. And worse, ********* investment is a key reason why Australia has emerged as an unlikely gas export giant.

Energy security is front of mind for ********* policymakers worried about keeping the lights on across their import-dependent archipelago. While Tokyo does have green energy plans, its short-term push is all about prolonging the life of fossil fuels—coupled with carbon capture.

Labor came to power promising to act faster on climate change. By decade’s end, Australia should be largely run on renewables, and Canberra wants to make clean exports a reality.

But Japan is making that ******* by financing gas exploitation in Australia. This could lock our fast-growing and energy-hungry region into much longer reliance on ****** fossil fuels and questionable carbon capture plans.

There’s a real danger Australia’s green export plans could be washed away by a tide of new fossil fuels.

So what are Japan’s zero emission plans?

In 2022, the ********* Prime Minister Kishido Fumio began promoting a

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—efforts combining decarbonization, economic growth and energy security. Fumio launched the ****** Zero Emissions Community to encourage the idea.

While these goals sound reasonable, the ****** is in the detail. The world’s fourth-largest economy, Japan has

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on imported coal, oil and gas—and more so after the 2011 Fukushima disaster forced nuclear plant shutdowns. Even as the world belatedly scrambles to tackle climate change, ********* policymakers are still focused on keeping fossil fuels flowing. Many

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aim to use fossil fuels for electricity.

The government’s energy policies explicitly aim to

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and encourage ********* firms to be involved. Japan is now the world’s second-largest public financier of international fossil fuel projects, spending more than A$7 billion

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.

How does this align with net zero? Japan claims new fossil fuel plants can slash emissions by

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in coal plants,

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with fossil gas in gas plants and ramping up

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.

Each of these technologies is

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. They cannot cut emissions at

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. And every million spent on propping up fossil fuels is a million not spent on renewables and storage.

********* funding makes *********** gas flow

Japan sees Australia as a friendly nation with huge fossil fuel resources and longstanding trade links.

Any changes to coal and gas extraction have been met with ********* lobbying. When Queensland hiked coal royalties in 2022, Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami,

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. The move, he warned, could have “widespread effects on ********* investment beyond the coal industry.”

When the federal government strengthened the Safeguard Mechanism, our main industrial emissions policy,

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. In response, Yamagami

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, warning the neon lights of Tokyo would go out without *********** energy exports.

Japan isn’t burning it all at home. It on-sells more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to other ****** nations than it

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. Without Japan’s funding on favorable terms, our LNG producers would

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with lower-cost producers such as Qatar.

Given a global gas glut is

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by 2026, Australia should be looking to dial down LNG. But Japan won’t let that happen.

Just this year, Japan loaned $2.5 billion to help Woodside develop Western Australia’s massive Scarborough gas field.

Independent and green—or dependent and ******?

Domestically, Australia is greening. Coal is retiring as renewables and storage rush in. Last year,

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came from clean energy and

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of Australia’s total power needs should be provided by renewables by 2030. But internationally, we’re now the second-largest exporter of carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

With major reserves of critical minerals (essential for renewables and batteries) and world class renewable resources, Australia is ideally placed to export green commodities to the region.

The Albanese government

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Australia as a “renewable energy superpower” and will invest public money through the

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to give local green industries a chance of global success.

But Japan has a different vision. Funding flows from Tokyo have already distorted Australia’s energy market and boosted demand for gas in the region. Worse, it has made it ******* for *********** leaders to create future-focused industries. New gas projects pull investment, workers and supply-chain capacity

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clean energy industries.

It’s not that Japan is anti-renewable. It’s just

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. Tokyo has

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to become the world’s top producer of energy from offshore wind.

Recent modeling shows Japan

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90% clean energy by 2035, gaining far greater energy independence and slashing reliance on expensive fossil fuels. If Japan took this route, we would likely see its *********** investments shift

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.

But right now, Japan’s focus is on keeping fossil fuels flowing.

Australia has to help shape Asia’s energy transition. If we don’t, we risk our future being made in Tokyo.

Provided by
The Conversation

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under a Creative Commons license. Read the

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Which future? Japan’s net zero vision for the region boosts gas and threatens green exports in Australia (2024, August 22)
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