Climate Lobbying Overview: Aeon has appeared to be positively and actively engaged on climate change in Japan. Aeon has directly advocated for the Japanese government to set more ambitious national 2030 targets for renewable energy and emissions reductions, and has appeared to support energy efficiency legislation and carbon taxes. InfluenceMap has not been able to find significant evidence of engagement by Aeon since April 2022.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Aeon appears to take supportive positions in its top-line messaging on climate policy. In March 2021, at the Expert Panel on Climate Change hosted by the Prime Minister of Japan, Aeon called for 50% national emission reductions to be set as a 2030 “goal consistent with 1.5 degrees and aligned with science.” In October 2020, Aeon senior executive co-signed a statement by the Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP) welcoming Japan’s new target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

In a committee hearing hosted by the Cabinet Secretariat in September 2021, Aeon expressed support towards deepening discussions on carbon pricing.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Aeon appears to be positively engaging with climate-related regulations in Japan. In its direct communications with Japanese government officials, Aeon has actively called for increased ambition in Japan’s national emissions targets. At the Expert Panel on Climate Change hosted by Prime Minister Suga, Aeon requested for a 50% emissions reduction target to be set for 2030 in March 2021 and in April 2021. After the government announced its 2030 target of 46% emissions reductions alongside efforts to push reductions toward 50%, Aeon told policymakers in May 2021 and in July 2021 that it will continue to aim for the more ambitious 50% reductions alongside other Japanese companies in the JCLP.

At the same Expert Panel on Climate Change in May 2021, Aeon also requested the government to adopt a “scientific and integrated perspective” to setting the Long-Term Strategy and the Global Warming Countermeasures Plan.

In December 2020, at the 2050 Carbon Neutral Forum hosted and attended by Prime Minister Suga, Aeon acknowledged that “carbon pricing is one of the mechanisms that promotes social change” needed to achieve net zero emissions in 2050, and suggested that measures such as taxes have to result in a fair “reallocation” to people and companies affected by the climate change transition.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Aeon appears to be very positive on energy transition in Japan. Aeon has called for energy efficiency and renewable energy to be the major pillars of the Basic Energy Plan ahead of the draft announcement in the summer of 2021. Previously in December 2020, Aeon told the Prime Minister that “an ambitious 2030 renewable energy target” in the Basic Energy Plan is one of the key ways to achieve 2050 net zero emissions and called for a 50% renewable energy target by 2030. At the Expert Panel on Climate Change in April 2021, Aeon again called for “significant increase” in the share of renewables to 50%, as it affects the “competitiveness of companies” and “has a great impact on EVs and hydrogen.”

In a December 2020 interview, an Aeon senior executive said that they would like the government to “consider the maximum amount of renewable energy that can be introduced by changing rules and deregulation” and that with existing measures like giving “renewables preferential connection to the power grid,” a 50% share is achievable.

Aeon also welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement to suspend support for coal-fired power generation without CCS at the Expert Panel on Climate Change in July 2021.

Industry Association Governance: Aeon has not disclosed its industry association memberships and has not published a full audit of its industry links nor details on its indirect climate-related lobbying activities. Aeon is a member of the climate-positive group Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP). AEON’s former executive made most of the company’s public statements on climate and energy policy as a representative of both Aeon and JCLP, when he was a co-chair of JCLP until March 2022. Aeon is also a member of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), which has held negative positions on many strands of climate policy.

InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q1 2023.