Cooperation on Energy (1979–present)

U.S. Agencies

Japan Agencies

Meeting Frequency

Context

• U.S.-Japan collaboration on energy began in 1979 and was strengthened by Reagan and Nakasone in the 1980s. Cooperation expanded during the 1990s and 2000s, yielding (among other initiatives) a Japan-U.S. Clean Energy Policy Dialogue in 2011, which later evolved into the more generic Japan-U.S. Energy Policy Dialogue in 2015 to better coordinate the broad range of cooperative efforts by the two countries in this field.

Goals

• To address energy supply and climate change by cooperating on issues such as energy-efficient buildings, smart grids, renewable energy sources, and person-to-person exchanges.

Significance

The allies agreed in 1979 to cooperate on energy research and development. Later, the 1983 Reagan-Nakasone Energy Cooperation Agreement created an energy working group to facilitate information exchange. In 2009, the two governments released a fact sheet and action plan highlighting cooperative projects to address energy issues and climate change, led by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and the U.S. Department of Energy. This led to the 2011 Japan-U.S. Clean Energy Policy Dialogue, which in 2015 evolved into the Japan-U.S. Energy Policy Dialogue, which covers a broad range of cooperative efforts by the two countries in this field.