On June 8, 2018, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Agency for Natural Resources and Energy released its FY 2017 Annual Report on Energy. The Annual Report on Energy (also known as the “Energy White Paper”) provides the status of Japan's energy policy measures and is submitted annually to the Diet as a requirement of Article 11 of the Basic Act on Energy Policy.

The Energy White Paper provides the current state of energy security, an outline of the energy measures that Japan achieved in FY2017, and current trends in energy policy and energy supply and demand. The 2017 White Paper covers the following topics: Japan’s history of energy usage since the Meiji Restoration; progress in decommissioning the unit 1-4 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the status of the station’s reconstruction; and the energy situation within and outside of Japan, including the potential challenges to achieving Japan’s goals for its 2030 energy mix, as well as the expectations for future challenges up to 2050.

The Energy White Paper is developed based on Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan, which is the national energy policy that sets the vision and strategies to meet Japan’s long-term energy needs, according to the Energy Policy Act of 2002. METI’s Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy released the outline for the 5th Strategic Energy Plan on April 27, 2018, which is further described in the JEPIC newsletter article " Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) released the outline for Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan." [1]

*The English language outline of the Energy White Paper 2018 has been released on METI’s website.[2]

[1] http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2018/06/20180608005/20180608005.html

[2] http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2018/pdf/0608_001a.pdf