Climate Obstruction Tactics in Japan’s Car Industry

As evidenced by the increase in regulatory changes in Europe and legal litigations worldwide, societal intolerance to corporate greenwashing is intensifying. The United Nations has highlighted greenwashing as a major obstacle to effective climate action, as growing numbers of companies adopt net-zero pledges in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Academic investigations of greenwashing are also increasing. Recent studies show that many companies promoting ambitious climate objectives simultaneously engage in climate obstruction to deliberately block, weaken or delay the introduction of climate policies.

Car making is a prominent industry where researchers have noted a disconnect between climate pledges, such as commitments to produce electric vehicles (EVs), and actual behaviors, including lobbying, investments and public communications. Japan, home to some of the largest car producers on the planet, provides a critical case study for understanding how major car makers and their industry associations are using various obstructionist tactics to slow the transition to electric vehicles, both in domestic and offshore markets.

To gain deeper insight into how obstruction activities in Japan’s car industry have evolved over time, and the factors influencing this, this study examines various tactics employed from the 1990s to the present. Data is sourced via desktop research, drawing on grey documents such as company annual reports, media articles, resources from research organisations alongside academic literature. Using a framework of corporate strategies developed by integrating insights from marketing and socio-technical transitions literature, this study deepens understanding of how the degree of resistance develops over time and explores the multiple, interlinked drivers behind these tactics. A major finding is that climate obstruction is tightly linked to success in technological development. Companies that are less active in producing EVs tend to be the most aggressive in implementing strategies to slow the transition to fully electric drivetrains.