The powerful business lobby Keidanren is dominated by energy-intensive sectors that represent less than 10 percent of the economy, resulting in national policies that favor coal and hindering attempts to combat climate change, a new study said.
The influence of Japan's electricity, steel, cement, car and fossil fuel sectors undermines its attempts to meet its Paris Agreement commitments, according to the report by London-based data analysis company InfluenceMap.
Keidanren, which has close ties with the trade and industry ministry as well as other government bodies, sits on expert panels and other forums where government policies are debated. It has acted as a "central negotiating point" on climate policy for two decades, the report said.