Japan's Power Market News 2024/W12

METI Considers Creating Market for “GX Products”

On March 12, METI presented an interim report on creating a market where “GX products” would be bought and sold. GX products are goods produced by companies participating in the GX League that are taking steps to reduce their #greenhouse gas emissions.?

Products sold on the GX market would have lower embedded carbon emissions, and sellers would be required to disclose their “GX value” — the amount of emissions avoided throughout the lifecycle of the products. This value would therefore include Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.?

Government Support and International Recognition

Because GX products are likely to be more expensive than other products, they would receive government support under the Green Purchasing Law to incentivize buyers to purchase them. METI hopes that, in the future, GX league participants will be able to offer cost-competitive products without government support.

Requiring companies to disclose the GX value of products also means establishing a platform for them to collaborate on sharing data.?

METI wants the concepts of GX products and GX value to be internationally accepted. METI’s interim report argues that acceptance in Europe is particularly important for these concepts to be globally recognized, and that avoiding the perception of “greenwashing” is critical for this acceptance.

The summary was compiled based on discussions by the Study Group on GX Product Market Contributing to Industrial Competitiveness and Emission Reduction that METI set up last November. It is scheduled to be revised and published within this month.

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