Japanese public backs carbon removal but awareness of emissions trading is low
A nationally representative survey released by the Carbon Business Council has found majority public support in Japan for carbon dioxide removal as a climate tool, while exposing very low public awareness of the emissions trading system the country is preparing to make mandatory.
The survey was conducted in May in partnership with Bellwether Research and the Japanese market research firm Intage, and covered 1,061 adults across the country. It found that 81% of respondents regard climate change as a serious or very serious issue. Support for the underlying technology is similarly broad: 56% favour investment in technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and 70% support capturing carbon directly from industrial sources.
Awareness, however, lags well behind support. Only 12% of Japanese adults say they fully or mostly understand what carbon dioxide removal is. Two-thirds, 67%, have never heard of a net zero target, and 58% have never heard of GX-ETS, the emissions trading scheme at the centre of Japan’s industrial decarbonisation strategy. When respondents were given a description of Japan’s net zero commitment, a majority expressed support for it.
On the question of who should drive deployment, respondents favoured a shared model: 57% said government and the private sector should lead on carbon removal together, while only 6% said the private sector should lead alone.
The findings arrive as GX-ETS moves from voluntary to mandatory participation. Under the scheme, Japan’s largest emitters will be required to measure, report and offset a share of their emissions, with carbon removal credits among the eligible instruments. The system is expected to cover several hundred of the country’s biggest emitters and a substantial share of national emissions, making it one of the more consequential new compliance carbon markets to come into force globally, and a significant potential source of structural demand for removal credits in a market that has so far been driven overwhelmingly by voluntary corporate purchasing.
The survey forms part of the Carbon Business Council’s wider engagement in the Asia-Pacific region, conducted alongside regional partners under an initiative launched earlier this year to accelerate carbon removal deployment across the region. The Council is a coalition representing more than 100 carbon management organisations spanning the major removal pathways.
The awareness gap the research identifies has practical implications for the scheme’s rollout. A compliance market whose existence is unknown to nearly six in ten adults may face difficulties building the public legitimacy that sustained carbon pricing typically requires, particularly where costs are passed through to consumers. It also mirrors findings the same organisation has published for other markets, where recognition of the term carbon dioxide removal has consistently run well below stated support for deploying it once respondents are given a brief explanation.
