First, referring to prospects for the Japanese economy in 2025, he explained his view that consumption would “increase if wage rates rise more than prices increase,” and that the economy would “grow slowly if domestic corporate investments remain steady.” He went on to emphasize that “establishing a virtuous cycle for the economy” was a vitally important issue for METI.
Turning his attention to activities for green transformation (GX), the METI Minister stated that he would aim at “substantiating courses of actions, one by one, for the maximum use of both renewable energies and nuclear energy, so that decarbonization power sources might trigger the formation of new industrial clusters and synergies.”
In December 2024, drafts were finalized of both the new Strategic Energy Plan (Japan’s national energy policy)—the deliberations for which had begun by the government last summer—and a plan for measures against climate change. On December 26, a draft was presented of a GX 2040 vision, a national strategy for reshaping Japan’s industrial structure toward the year 2040.
As for efforts to promote GX in the energy sector, the government plans to accelerate the restart of idle nuclear power plants on the premise of ensured safety, and “will seek to enable nuclear power operators to replace those NPPs whose decommissioning has already been decided with next-generation advanced reactors at the same sites.”
In addition to the above points, Muto mentioned four items:
- Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (April 13 to October 13, 2025)
- Continued efforts at restoration and reconstruction after the Mw7.5 earthquake that rocked Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024.
- Similar efforts after the Mw9.0-9.1 earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011 (the Great East Japan Earthquake).
- The “safe and steady” decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, shut down on account of the accident resulting from the aforementioned earthquake of 2011.
