ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the Japan's coal policy and analysis of industry organization and coal supply demand structure. It examines two major challenges related to Japan's coal use: the overreliance on Australia for imports and Japan's recent activity in overcoming the obstacles towards less emissions-intensive usage of coal. Japan has been highly dependent on the Asia-Pacific region and particularly Australia for its coal imports. Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL) has been commissioned by METI and New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) to carry out various surveys into technology that uses coal, such as collecting coal-related data from all over the world. The deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology on a significant scale is a potential 'game-changer' for coal as it is the only technology available to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels that allows the world to reap their benefits without the negative impacts associated with climate change.
