Japan
日本
Overall NDC Equity Score
Insufficient
Emissions Reductions
Aspiring
NDC makes a strong effort to create ambitious emissions reduction goals but still has some ways to go.
Gender Justice
Insufficient
NDC made an effort to acknowledge the disproportion impacts of climat3e on women and gender, but it insufficiently addresses long-term solutions and inclusion.
Youth Inclusion
Critically Deficient
The NDC has significant gaps in addressing youth inclusion, potentially not addressing young people at all.
Summary
Japan is one of the Top 20 greenhouse gas emitters in the world and emitted the 8th most greenhouse gas in the world in 2024. However, Japan makes an effort to decarbonize its society and also tries to become a leader of decarbonization across the Asia and Pacific region by providing financial and technological assistance to other countries through the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) and the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM). Japan suffers more frequent and intense weather events due to climate change, including typhoons, flooding and heatwaves, resulting in higher risk to people’s health and even their lives. Furthermore, change in seasonal climate patterns makes it difficult to predict crop yields and to sustain stable supplies, leading to food insecurity. To cope with these adverse effects and mitigate climate change, Japan defines its concrete and comprehensive plans and initiatives in each sector and scale in the Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures.
On Gender mainstreaming: Although society has emphasized the importance of women’s participation and set goals of women ratio in organizations, the reality is that the rate of women’s participation in policy and business decision-making processes remains low, the percentage of women in executive positions is also low. It cannot be said that women’s opinions are equally reflected in decision-making in Japan. However, women’s participation has gradually improved compared to previous decades.
On Youth inclusion: Youth are not mentioned in Japan’s NDC 3.0 at all and there is no official support for youth organizations, projects and events from the government.
Highlights
- Increase ambition in their emission reduction targets aligned with the 2.0 °C scenario from the previous NDC with insufficient target.
- Recognize the importance of socio-economic system transition and specific policies to promote decarbonization.
- Include various stakeholders from civil societies in its planning processes.
- Enhance women’s participation in expert committees with number targets.
Lowlights
- Poor description and recognition of “women” in climate change.
- No consideration of “youth” in the NDC.
- No target breakdown for emission reduction in terms of reductions and removals.
- Unclear reduction plans and measures in each sector.
Key Recommendations
Japan’s NDC 3.0 shows enhanced ambition in emission reduction targets, now aligned with the 2.0 °C scenario — an improvement from its previous, insufficient goals. The NDC recognizes the need for a broader socio-economic system transition and outlines specific decarbonization policies. It also emphasizes inclusive planning by involving civil society stakeholders and sets numerical targets to enhance women’s participation in expert committees.
However, the NDC falls short in several areas. It provides limited recognition of the role of women in addressing climate change and completely overlooks youth involvement. Additionally, the NDC lacks clear breakdowns between emission reductions and removals and does not provide detailed plans for reduction measures across sectors. These gaps highlight a need for more comprehensive and inclusive climate action planning.
For Gender Justice
- Raise awareness of why women are vulnerable and important stakeholders in climate policy beyond achieving numerical targets.
- Recognize the gender injustice in past and present Japanese society and dispel the traditional concept of gender-based division of labor.
- Ensure the equitable participation of women in decision-making bodies, such as expert panels of ministries and corporate executives.
- Conduct regular, comprehensive stocktaking of women’s inclusion in all relevant organizations that make climate change and energy policy decisions, not data from a few study groups, including data on participation rate of women and the continuity of women’s participation in order to recognize and improve the current situation.
For Youth Inclusion
- Recognize youth as a crucial and vulnerable stakeholder in climate change policies.
- Establish institutional bodies to include young people in decision-making processes, such as national youth council, youth advisory board to ministries and youth members in committees discussing climate policies.
- Offer government-led training and awareness-raising events on climate change to enable youth to proactively engage in the policy making process.
- Educate young people as pivotal decision-makers and include them in the national negotiation delegation in climate change policies.
- Disclose how the recommendations, consultation dialogues and public comments from youth were referred to in policy formulation processes and reflected in actual policies.
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