Envisioning Japan's 100% Renewable Future

A Conversation with Ono Teruyuki

You can read the Japanese version of this article here. I also send out some of these articles in a newsletter format on Linkedin.

The phone call was from Tokyo’s governor. She was looking for seasoned advice on how best to achieve the city’s proposed climate goal.

The man who picked up the phone on the other end was Mr. Ono Teruyuki, the executive director of the Renewable Energy Institute (REI). He knows the city — and the way it makes policy — very well. He was, after all, the Director General of the City of Tokyo’s Bureau of Environment before taking his current position at REI. Even today, he serves as a policy advisor for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the municipal governments in Kawasaki and Kyoto cities.

Mr. Ono Teruyuki, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Institute (Linkedin)

In September 2021, Tokyo adopted a target of halving carbon emissions by 2030. The central pillar of its roadmap is to put rooftop solar panels on every new home and building from April 2025. Its roadmap was crafted, in no small part, with inputs from experts like Mr. Ono.

That’s the kind of expertise that REI brandishes. Of the 81 think tanks that existed in Japan at the end of 2022, the largest tend to focus on national security, economic issues, demography, and feeding market intelligence to their parent corporations. In this landscape, the birth and growth of REI is unique. Over the years, REI’s expertise has come to be value by both policymakers and businesses.