Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released an action plan to support the country’s shift to ethanol-blended gasoline, starting with E10 by 2030 and E20 by 2040. The plan was introduced during a meeting held on June 10 and aims to address legal, technical, and market challenges involved in increasing ethanol use in fuel, reports Ethanol Producer Magazine.
This follows a November 2024 announcement by the Japanese government to adopt E10 gasoline (10% ethanol) within six years and move to E20 (20% ethanol) by the next decade.
To prepare for the broader transition, METI will begin a small-scale rollout of E10 in 2028. According to a report from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, this trial will be managed by METI’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) and will take place near oil refineries. The beta-test will focus on a limited geographic area to identify and resolve early challenges before nationwide adoption.
In addition to the fuel rollout, METI plans to revise the baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions value for gasoline, which currently stands at 88.74 grams of CO₂ equivalent per megajoule (gCO2eq/MJ). Due to rising emissions linked to new desulfurization processes used by oil producers, this value will be updated to 90.17 gCO2eq/MJ. A public comment period will be held before the new GHG reduction target is officially adopted.
METI had previously set a biofuel GHG reduction target at 55% compared to conventional gasoline. Once the new lifecycle assessment (LCA) for gasoline is completed, that target will rise to 60%.
As part of its policy updates, METI also plans to include new default GHG emission values for ethanol made from Brazilian corn, Thai sugar, and Thai cassava. These will be added to existing values for Brazilian sugarcane and U.S. corn-based ethanol. The updated values are expected to be formally added to Japan’s regulatory framework by spring 2026.
The full report is available on the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) website.
