The pending commitment and ongoing political divide on carbon pricing in Japan

New discussions on carbon pricing are underway in Japan. In 2012, Japan introduced a nationwide carbon tax named the Global Warming Countermeasure Tax. However, a gap remains between the price level set by this tax and the levels needed for Japan to achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality goal. Combining perspectives from an Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) with insights on brokerage mechanisms in social network analysis (SNA), this study reviews the history of the carbon pricing debate in Japan and also analyzes the dynamics between different advocacy coalitions in the policy network. The evolution of the carbon-pricing debate in Japan is divided into four historical stages: (I) the first attempt to establish a carbon pricing system (from the early 2000s to 2015); (II) fierce debate on the necessity of readjusting the carbon pricing system (from 2016 to 2017); (III) efforts to sustain the carbon pricing discussion (from 2017 to 2019); and (IV) the reopened discussion on carbon pricing under new climate pledge (from 2020 to 2021). The unbridgeable gap between advocacy coalitions and the subsequent long-lasting political stalemate on carbon pricing, to some extent, reflects limited policy learning and related capacities that are deeply entrenched in Japan’s vertically segmented bureaucracy. Barriers and challenges to advancing carbon pricing decisions are discussed together with recommendations on how to create better brokerage mechanisms to strengthen communication, facilitate policy learning and ultimately improve policy decisions.Two advocacy coalitions constitute two separate poles in Japan’s climate policy networks.Weak brokerage and limited policy learning have led to a long-lasting political stalemate in Japan on carbon pricing.The strengthening of brokerage functions can improve inter-coalition communication and create a more centrist position, which will subsequently help to advance national carbon pricing systems in Japan.Brokerage mechanisms – facilitated by either governmental or non-governmental organizations – can be used to negotiate between different advocacy coalitions to promote learning and advance decision-making on contentious policies like carbon pricing.