Japan is experiencing a surge in data center construction primarily driven by AI development. The nation has also committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Like other jurisdictions, such as the EU, the Japanese government plans to minimize emissions associated with data centers by implementing energy efficiency measures. These include setting a national average PUE limit of 1.4 by 2030 and a PUE of 1.3 for all new data centers built from 2029 onwards. Operators that fail to meet these requirements will face penalties, though enterprise data centers appear to be exempt.

Regulations for data centers

Japan’s energy efficiency legislation is being expanded to include minimum performance standards and information reporting requirements for data centers. The Act on the Rationalization of Energy Use was one of the first nationwide energy efficiency mandates when it was introduced in 1979. It is now commonly referred to as the Energy Conservation Act or Energy Efficiency Act and has been extended to cover all data centers consuming the energy equivalent of 1,500 kiloliters of crude oil per year — roughly 16,000 MWh. A task force led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, with support from industry groups including the Japan Data Center Council, is developing the regulations. The final version has not yet been published, but the law is scheduled for revision by March 31, 2026, with implementation expected in April 2026.