The government stressed the need to facilitate private-sector investment in renewable energy research to meet its long-term emissions goal, in an annual paper Friday.
The Annual Report on Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society and the Biodiversity in Japan for 2014 was adopted at a Cabinet meeting in the morning.
To encourage more companies to invest in the sector, the white paper proposed introducing a ranking system based on corporations' environmental efforts, under which high-ranking firms would receive financing incentives.
Other examples of policy options proposed in the paper include providing a platform for investors in search of environment-friendly assets as well as community-based funding and cloud funding to engage micro investors.
Additional investment of about ¥135 trillion to ¥163 trillion will be required by 2030 in the areas of renewable power and energy efficiency to meet a goal of 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2050, according to the paper.