The future basic direction of Japan's coal policy

摘要

Coal provides the mainstay of alternative energysources replacing oil, because of its great supply stability andeconomic advantages. Japan depends on coal for 16 percent of itsprimary energy supply. In the Asian region, coal accounts for 45percent of primary energy, which is considerably higher than theworld average of 30 percent. Coal is an essential energy source forthe sustainable economic development of the Asian region.To ensure stable supply of coal for Japan, it is necessary toincrease supply of coal to respond to the increase in demand forcoal, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. To respond to the need toensure stable supply of coal and the environmental problems suchas the global warming issue, expectation is placed on Japan toeffectively employ its advanced coal-related technologies.In August this year, the Coal Mining Council which is an advisorycommittee for the Minister of the Ministry of International Tradeand Industry, made the final report "Suggested Ways ofCompleting the Present Japanese Coal Policy Smoothly". Thereport pointed out that the global coal supply and demand situationis expected to become more strained in the future, and that Japan isthe world's largest coal importer, accounting for nearly 30 percentof the total global coal trade. Because of this particular status ofour country, securing stable supply of coal on an internationalscale still remains one of the top priorities for Japan to undertake,and that the domestic coal mines have an important role to transfertheir advanced coal mining technologies to coal producingcountries such as China and Indonesia, in order to secure stable supply of coal.This paper describes the outline of the report of the Coal MiningCouncil and reviews the future direction of Japan's Coal Policyfrom a viewpoint of energy policy based on the current situationand future global energy supply and demand.