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Japan's FY2026 national budget (Cabinet-approved 26 December 2025, taking effect with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026) continues and expands METI's subsidy line for building "autonomous resource circulation systems" -- domestic recycling and recovery capacity for rare metals/rare earths, EV and small-electronics lithium-ion batteries, plastics, textiles, and automotive materials. Global Trade Alert logs this as one of 23 METI programmes under the FY2026 budget supporting the "green transformation of the industrial sector," and classifies it under MAST Chapter L (subsidies).
The scheme predates FY2026: it began as a FY2022 second-supplementary- budget demonstration subsidy (公募 rounds in 2023), then continued as the FY2025 "Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Autonomous Resource Circulation System Strengthening Promotion Project," administered by GIO (一般社団法人 低炭素投資促進機構), funding SME (up to 1/2 of costs) and large-enterprise (up to 1/3) capital investment in recycled-material manufacturing, eco-conscious/long-life product design, and reuse/ refurbishment circular-commerce technology, contingent on membership in METI's "Circular Partners" scheme. METI's 18 February 2026 public-offer notice reopens the executing-body (執行団体) selection for the FY2026 round of the same scheme under its formal subsidy name, the "Decarbonisation Growth-Type Economic Structure Transition Promotion Subsidy (Autonomous Resource Circulation System Strengthening Promotion Project)."
Japanese budget press reporting puts the FY2026 allocation at JPY 7.3 billion, up from JPY 3.0 billion in FY2025 (~2.4x). This sits within METI's broader circular-economy push -- the Cabinet Office's December 2024 "Circular Economy Transition Acceleration Package" and an April 2026 Circular Economy Action Plan draft citing JPY 37.9 billion for adjacent resource-recycling supply-chain equipment support -- aimed at reducing Japan's import dependence on primary critical-mineral supply (rare earths, battery metals) via domestic urban-mining/recycling capacity.
funds domestic recovery of rare-earth and battery-metal content from end-of-life electronics, EVs, and industrial scrap as a substitute for primary-mined/China-refined imports.
the recycling-capacity channel faster than it scaled the predecessor FY2022 demonstration-subsidy phase, consistent with the broader GX (green transformation) financing wave found in the neighbouring FY2026 METI grant lines filed the same day (hydrogen, next-gen semiconductor equity, nuclear industrial base).
processors that join METI's Circular Partners scheme and win awards through GIO's competitive solicitation -- not a direct-to-importer tariff or quota mechanism.
per project) was not yet published as of this filing -- the 18 February 2026 notice covers executing-body selection, not the downstream applicant call; GIO's teitanso.or.jp had not yet posted an FY2026 (令和8年度) programme page (only the FY2025 round page exists as of research). Revisit once GIO publishes the FY2026 solicitation.
environment as of 2026-07-05 (consistent with the WAF block noted on the neighbouring FY2026 METI actions filed the same day); the primary URL above was confirmed via search-indexed title/content match rather than direct fetch.
aggregates with the adjacent "資源自律経済確立産官学連携加速化事業費" applied- research budget line that appears in the same FY2026 public-offer batch.