MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan has set an ambitious target for renewable energy in the nation's electricity mix by 2030 as it aims to tackle climate change and achieve its 2050 carbon neutral goal, reported Reuters.
Under the plan, put forward in July and approved by Japan's cabinet on Friday, renewables should account for 36-38% of power supplies in 2030, double 2019's level and well above its previous 2030 target for 22-24%.
In April, Japan raised its 2030 target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 46% from 26% on 2013 levels, responding to pressure from the United States as world leaders met for a climate summit hosted by US President Joe Biden.
G20 leaders meet in Glasgow this month to discuss emissions cuts scientists say are needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The latest policy comes with no significant changes from the draft released in July, despite 6,400 public comments including criticism for its coal and nuclear policy.
In green energy, Japan will aim for 14-16% to come from solar, 5% from wind, 1% from geothermal, 11% from hydropower and 5% from biomass. But Japan's nuclear target was left unchanged at 20-22%, despite the country struggling to return the industry to its former central role after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. To meet the target about 30 reactors will need to restart, from only eight reactors operating now. The country had 54 operable reactors previously.
"The 2050 target and the 2030 goal to cut emissions by 46% are the right decisions as they finally brought Japan up to global standards," said Takeo Kikkawa, vice president of International University of Japan.
"But Japan will likely miss the 2030 target as renewables could only reach 30% due to a lack of suitable solar sites and nuclear power could rise only up to 15% with about 20 reactors running," said Kikukawa, also an adviser to the government on energy policy.
The use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, will be reduced to 19% from a previous target of 26%, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be lowered to 20% from 27% and oil will be cut to 2% from 3%. Newer fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia will account for about 1% of the electricity mix by 2030.
As MRC informed before, Eneos Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest refiner, plans to buy Japan Renewable Energy for about 200 billion yen (USD1.8 billion) from Goldman Sachs and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. The deal would mark the first major purchase of a renewables company by a top Japanese oil company, the Nikkei said, as Eneos looks to shift away from fossil fuels.
We remind that ENEOS Corporation restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December, 2020.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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