Japan improved its environmental record after Fukushima

The prolonged shutdown of Japan's nuclear power plants following the Fukushima accident brutally deprived the country of 30% of its electricity, which is still largely offset by fossil fuels (coal and natural gas), significantly increasing Japan's greenhouse gas emissions.

Electricity production from nuclear reactors shut down following the Fukushima accident (more than half of which were fully operational) was replaced by fossil fuels, mainly coal and gas. 

This fossil fuel-generated electricity led to a 36% increase in CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour between 2010 and their peak in 2013. These mainly imported fossil fuels reduced the energy independence rate from 20% to 6.5% in 2012. Between the accident and 2035, the emission of 2.2 billion metric tons of CO² could have been avoided. 

Since 2012, Japan has continued the development of coal-fired power plants: a dozen units have been commissioned, while another fifteen were planned or started over the decade that followed. While several projects have since been abandoned or delayed in the face of international pressures and climate goals, coal remains a significant component of Japan's electricity mix, further moving the country away from the trajectory consistent with the Paris Agreement.  

At the same time, increased dependence on imports of fossil fuels — including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil — continued to weigh on the country's trade balance and energy independence. In 2024, these imports still accounted for more than $180 billion despite the recommissioning of several nuclear reactors. This has contributed to keeping electricity prices high, up about 10-20% depending on the sector.

In the first years after the accident and the closure of nuclear power plants, industrial actors were forced to reduce their electricity consumption and make their employees work at night and on weekends to avoid power cuts. These impacts added to the already significant difficulties faced by the Japanese economy and population due to the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami.

The situation has improved considerably since then, thanks in particular to the deployment of renewable energies, especially solar energy.

Japan was thus able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions between 2013 and 2025, partly due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy, but also thanks to an increase in the contribution of renewable energies, especially solar and hydro-electricity, and the return to the grid of 15 nuclear power plants that were shut down in 2011, which provided about 9% of the country's electricity in 2025.

In 2020, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan aims for carbon neutrality by 2050, i.e. a net-zero carbon footprint where greenhouse gas emissions are fully offset by absorption or reduction. 
The objective is based on technological innovation (advanced solar batteries, hydrogen), renewable energies and a gradual return to safe nuclear power