What about Japan’s cars? Missing commitment towards zero carbon on vehicles

Among the many aspects of decarbonizing our economies, transportation is a major discussion. However, there is little confidence in Japan fulfilling its October 2020 declaration to achieve zero carbon by 2050. Automakers such as Toyota have indicated their intention to go carbon neutral but lack conviction.

The COP26 Declaration on Accelerating the Transition to 100% Zero Emission Cars and Vans sees signatories from automotive manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Cars. Toyota is not among the signatories.

In a decarbonization report released by Greenpeace East Asia earlier this month, Toyota ranks at the bottom of the world’s top 10 automakers with a grade F– (yes, F minus minus). This is because of Toyota’s delays in transitioning to zero-emission vehicles. Zero-emission vehicles (Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV)) sold in 2020 accounted for only 0.12% of total sales. They did not mention plans to abolish fossil fuel vehicles (internal combustion engines (ICE)). The report shares that “it has become the industry’s biggest obstacle to the all-out transition to electric vehicles.”

Greenpeace Japan released a statement from Hisayo Takada, Program Manager of Greenpeace Japan, saying, “Japan has the opportunity to create green jobs and a prosperous economy based on truly sustainable ideals, but Japan is lagging on the world stage through inaction presently. We urge both the Japanese government and Toyota to take the lead in abolishing fossil-fueled vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, and taking more advanced actions to promote the spread of renewable energy in Japan.”

Toyota’s insistence on continuing developing of FCEV confuses many critics, despite current energy inefficiencies in tapping hydrogen and the uncompetitive role in electric vehicles. The fuel cell buses that did not run on green energy as promised during the Olympics served a cautionary example for the state of deploying hydrogen energy in the country.

Perhaps a part of Toyota’s story rings true for many big-money businesses: conducting activities that are bad for climate change, from anti-climate lobbying activities to opposing bans of gasoline and diesel in various countries. InfluenceMap lists Toyota as one of the top three most negatively influential global companies on Paris-aligned climate policy, just below ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Japan continues doubling down at the hydrogen table, the latest chips going into its agreement with Russia to cooperate in hydrogen and ammonia production to shift away from fossil fuels. Future development is key, especially in how green the hydrogen is, where the hydrogen is used (such as in fertilizer production instead of electric vehicles), and who the true partners in decarbonization are. If cutting losses and walking away is not an option, let’s hope Japan has something more than a bluff to bet against alternative solutions.