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Japan continues to bet on hydrogen, despite decades of lacklustre progress
25/10/2023
8 min read
Feature
Japan is relying heavily on hydrogen as a solution to decarbonising its industry, buildings and transportation. But this poses significant challenges, as Putra Adhiguna, Energy Technologies Research Lead, Asia, at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), explains.
Industrial countries in Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, have their own ways of pursuing the energy transition that cater to their circumstances. Power supply chains with neighbouring states and domestic energy resources are not luxuries available to every country, so other developed nations should look at individual cases judiciously.
Such is the general narrative in response to criticism of how Japan and South Korea have gone about reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
Indeed, both countries face specific challenges, being the fifth and eighth largest energy consumers globally while depending primarily on imported fuel. In 2020, Japan had an energy self-sufficiency ratio of 11% and South Korea 19%, both supported by domestic nuclear power and, to a lesser extent, renewables.