Japan updated its hydrogen strategy: 3, 12 and 20 million tonnes by 2030, 2040 and 2050

The Japanese cabinet adopted on Tuesday 6 June 2023 a revised Basic Hydrogen Strategy. The most important change is a new interim target: according to Reuters, Japan is to increase hydrogen supply to 12 million t per year by 2040. The original plan of 2017 — the first document of its kind in the country — envisaged 3 million t per year by 2030 (from about 2 million t at present) and about 20 million t by 2050, when the global hydrogen market is to generate revenue of the order of 2.5 trillion dollars per year.

Scale of investment

The government announced that over 15 years it will invest about 15 trillion yen (about 107.5 billion dollars) in supplying the country with hydrogen. According to the industry ministry, the government plans to provide 6–8 trillion yen of this amount, and the private sector is to supply the rest. AP describes this as 15 trillion yen coming from public and private sources, intended for building hydrogen-related supply chains. It is therefore not an amount from the budget alone.

Priorities and electrolysers

The revised plan sets out nine strategic areas, including the development of water electrolysis equipment, fuel batteries and large tankers for transporting hydrogen. The strategy is to help Japanese companies play a key role in the supply of electrolysers: according to Reuters a target was set of 15 GW of electrolyser capacity of Japanese enterprises at home and abroad by the end of the decade, from less than 1 GW at present. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at the cabinet meeting that hydrogen is a sector that makes it possible to "achieve decarbonisation, stable energy supply and economic growth at the same time".

Criticism

AP points out that Japan currently relies mainly on hydrogen produced from fossil fuels, and some experts argue that strategies for commercialising hydrogen and ammonia serve primarily big business and industries heavily invested in fossil-fuel-based technologies. Japan's decarbonisation policy relies on so-called clean coal, hydrogen and nuclear power as bridges to renewable energy, and the war in Ukraine has sharpened concerns about energy security.

And biogas?

In the hydrogen strategy biogas does not play a main role. From the point of view of the Polish industry it is worth noting the difference: in the EU biomethane is an element of gas decarbonisation policy, whereas in Japan the priority is hydrogen and its carriers, including imported ones.