Japan to promote regional decarbonization efforts

The ministry aims to lower the cost of introducing clean energies by facilitating the use of cutting-edge technologies by municipalities, hoping to realize full-scale regional decarbonization programs using such technologies as early as fiscal 2030.

In the model projects, the ministry will solicit municipalities to work for several years on promoting the use of hydrogen and commercializing perovskite solar cells, which are thin, flexible and can be installed on building walls, while planning to subsidize project costs.

Applications can be submitted jointly with private companies.

Meanwhile, the ministry has set the five years from fiscal 2026, which starts next April, as an intensive period to disseminate examples of areas leading decarbonization efforts toward achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions.

Since fiscal 2022, the ministry has designated 88 sites in 115 municipalities across 40 of the country's 47 prefectures as such areas, aiming to increase the number to more than 100 by the end of fiscal 2025.

In fiscal 2026, the ministry will help municipalities provide information about their use of renewable energy sources in their communities, tailored to local issues.