US & Japanese Groups Call for Transparency on Wood Pellet Imports

US and Japanese advocacy groups are calling on Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to reform the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) system for wood pellets. They argue that Japanese subsidies have fueled an industry in the US characterized by repeated legal violations and pollution. The groups propose prohibiting subsidies for non-compliant mills, mandating full public disclosure of supply chains, and requiring direct due diligence rather than reliance on certification schemes.

• The wood pellet industry in the United States is characterized by repeated legal violations, pollution, and negative impacts on community health, which the authors argue indicates that US law provides inadequate remedies for regulation.
• Japan's Feed-In Tariff (FIT) subsidies have driven the expansion of the US wood pellet industry, and the authors argue METI should use its power as a buyer to exclude problem producers by prohibiting subsidies for mills with legal violations, both prospectively and retrospectively.
• The advocacy groups propose four specific accountability mechanisms for METI: prohibiting subsidies for violating mills, mandating public disclosure of all pellet mills in the supply chain, including public health standards in sourcing guidelines, and requiring due diligence based on public authority documentation rather than certification schemes.

APA

Jones, S. (2025). US & Japanese Groups Call for Transparency on Wood Pellet Imports. Mighty Earth. https://mightyearth.org/article/us-japanese-groups-call-for-transparency-on-wood-pellet-imports/

Chicago

Jones, Sydney. US & Japanese Groups Call for Transparency on Wood Pellet Imports. Mighty Earth, 2025. https://mightyearth.org/article/us-japanese-groups-call-for-transparency-on-wood-pellet-imports/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Jones |first1=Sydney |title=US & Japanese Groups Call for Transparency on Wood Pellet Imports |publisher=Mighty Earth |date=2 December 2025 |url=https://mightyearth.org/article/us-japanese-groups-call-for-transparency-on-wood-pellet-imports/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{jones2025japanese, author = {Jones, Sydney}, title = {{US \& Japanese Groups Call for Transparency on Wood Pellet Imports}}, publisher = {Mighty Earth}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://mightyearth.org/article/us-japanese-groups-call-for-transparency-on-wood-pellet-imports/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }