Politics of climate change and energy policy in Japan: Is green transformation likely?

While being proud of energy efficiency and experienced the nuclear disaster, Japan is likely to lead the world in energy transiton. On the contrary, it has been intransigence around deep decarbonization. Why does Japan not take leadership in energy transition and arrest climate change? What is the context for Japanese climate/energy policymaking? What is the context for the 2050 net-zero target, what are the obstacles, and which actors could assist effectively in accelerating this transition? This article considers what could make a difference in new drivers for national policy, the influence of exogenous domestic and international forces. It leads to the question of whether the 2050 carbon neutrality policy goal could lead to a rapid energy transformation away from fossil fuels. This article presents an analytical framework to explain Japan’s evolving climate-energy nexus, illuminating core variables hampering and enabling the attainment of the net-zero 2050 target.