Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions decrease 7th straight year
National emissions, first recorded in fiscal 1990, totaled 1.15 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in fiscal 2020, down 5.1 percent from the previous year, on the back of lower energy consumption stemming from reduced production in manufacturing industries as well as a decrease in passenger and freight traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry said.
Improved energy conservation on top of wider adoption of renewable energy and resumption of nuclear power plant operations also contributed to the emission cut, according to the ministry.
Emissions in fiscal 2020 marked an 18.4 percent drop compared with the fiscal 2013 level, which Japan uses as a base year in pursuing a 46 percent cut by fiscal 2030. Japan had previously sought a 26 percent reduction compared with the base year.
By gas types, emissions of CO2 decreased to 1.04 billion tons, down 5.8 percent from the previous year, while those of hydrofluorocarbons, which substitute ozone-depleting substances as refrigerants, continued the rising trend by climbing 4.0 percent.
The industry sector reduced energy-related CO2 emissions by 8.1 percent from the previous year, while such emissions fell 10.2 percent in the transport sector. The residential sector saw emissions increase 4.5 percent, likely as people spent more time at home during the pandemic.
The energy conversion sector, which includes power plants and oil refineries, cut emissions by 8.4 percent from the previous year, as emissions from the manufacturing of oil products decreased.
Removals of greenhouse gases by forests and other «carbon sink» measures continued a declining trend of late, standing at 44.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent in fiscal 2020, and the government plans to replace old trees, which are less efficient at absorbing carbon, with younger ones.
Japan, along with the United States and other countries, aims to become carbon neutral -- an economy with net zero greenhouse gas emissions -- by 2050.