The government faces growing pressure to set an ambitious fiscal 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, with business and environmental groups demanding a doubling of renewables' contribution to the country's energy mix up to between 40% and 50%.

To address the matter, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government is set to release a new carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions target for fiscal 2030, which he promised would be more ambitious than the current goal of a 26% reduction compared to fiscal 2013 levels.

The series of discussions on Japan's future energy plans come as Tokyo faces the need to make up ground on other developed nations that have already committed to larger greenhouse gas emission cuts. Suga pledged last October to make the country carbon neutral by 2050.