Speaker: Florentine Koppenborg

Japan’s Climate Politics 10 years after Paris

Abstract

Leadership transitions create potentially pivotal moments for policy transformation. What implications does the recent election of a new LDP leader and Prime Minister hold for Japan’s climate trajectory? Using this leadership change as an analytical entry point, this presentation examines long-term patterns and underlying conditions that have shaped Japan’s climate policy evolution.

The analysis explores competing climate narratives advanced by various government actors, examines Japan’s ongoing nuclear power paradox in the post-Fukushima era, and identifies emerging forces within Japan’s democratic framework that could drive more ambitious climate action. By situating recent political developments within broader institutional and discursive contexts, this presentation assesses whether Japan’s new leadership represents continuity or departure in climate governance, and what this means for the country’s contributions to global climate goals in the decade ahead.

Short bio

Name	Dr. Florentine Koppenborg
Position	post-doctoral researcher
Affiliation	Hochschule für Politik München (Munich School of Politics and Public Policy), Chair of Environmental and Climate Policy at the HfP/TUM
Research focus	energy and climate policy, particularly energy transitions (“Energiewende”) and interactions – both synergies and conflicts – with climate policy
relevant Publications	Koppenborg, Florentine. 2023. Japan’s Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance. Cornell University Press. Koppenborg, Florentine. 2023. „The Evolution of “Phase-Out” as a Bridging Concept for Sustainability: From Pollution to Climate Change” (with Gregory Trencher, Adrian Rinscheid, Daniel Rosenbloom, Nhi Truong & Pinar Temocin), One Earth 6 (7), pp. 854-871. Koppenborg, Florentine. 2023. „More Weapons than Windmills: Japan’s Military and Energy Policy Response to Russia’s Attack on Ukraine” (with Ulv Hanssen) in: Czech Journal of International Relations. Koppenborg, Florentine. 2021. „Japan’s Climate Change Discourse: Toward Climate Securitisation?” (with Ulv Hanssen) in: Politics & Governance, Vol 9 (4). Koppenborg, Florentine. 2021. „Nuclear Restart Politics: How the ‘Nuclear Village’ Lost Policy Implementation Power” In: Social Science Journal Japan, Vol 24 (1).