GJETC report 2018 : intensified German-Japanese cooperation in energy research ; key results and policy recommendations

The challenges and also potentials of the energy transition are tremendous in Germany, as well as in Japan. Sometimes, structures of the old energy world need "creative destruction" to clear the way for innovations for a decarbonized, low-risk energy system. In these times of disruptive changes, a constructive and sometimes controversial dialog within leading industrial nation as Japan and Germany over the energy transition is even more important. The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) released a summarizing report for the first project phase 2016-2018. It includes jointly formulated recommendations for politics as well as a controversial dialogue part. The Council jointly states and recommends that: Ambitious long-term targets and strategies for a low-carbon energy system must be defined and ambitiously implemented; Germany and Japan as high technology countries need to take the leadership. Both countries will have to restructure their energy systems substantially until 2050 while maintaining their competitiveness and securing energy supply. Highest priority is given to the forced implementation of efficiency technologies and renewable energies, despite different views on nuclear energy. In both countries all relevant stakeholders - but above all the decision-makers on all levels of energy policy - need to increase their efforts for a successful implementation of the energy transition. Design of the electricity market needs more incentives for flexibility options and for the extensive expansion of variable power generation, alongside with strategies for cost reduction for electricity from photovoltaic and wind energy. The implementation gap of the energy efficiency needs to be closed by an innovative energy policy package to promote the principle of "Energy Efficiency First". Synergies and co-benefits of an enhanced energy and resource efficiency policy need to be realized. Co-existence of central infrastructure and the growing diversity of the activ