The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of the Environment. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.
The current minister is Hiroyoshi Sasagawa, who took office on 17 September 2026.
List of ministers of the environment (2001–2025)
MinisterTerm of officePrime Minister#PortraitNameTook officeLeft officeDays1Yoriko KawaguchiJanuary 6, 2001February 8, 2002Yoshirō MoriJunichiro Koizumi2February 8, 2002September 30, 20023Shun'ichi SuzukiSeptember 30, 2002September 22, 20034Yuriko KoikeSeptember 22, 2003September 26, 20065Masatoshi WakabayashiSeptember 26, 2006August 27, 2007Shinzō Abe6Ichirō KamoshitaAugust 27, 2007August 2, 2008Yasuo Fukuda7Tetsuo SaitoAugust 2, 2008September 16, 2009Taro Aso8Sakihito OzawaSeptember 16, 2009September 21, 2010Yukio HatoyamaNaoto Kan9Ryu MatsumotoSeptember 21, 2010June 27, 201110Satsuki EdaJune 27, 2011September 2, 201111Goshi HosonoSeptember 2, 2011October 1, 2012Yoshihiko Noda12Hiroyuki NagahamaOctober 1, 2012December 26, 201213Nobuteru IshiharaDecember 26, 2012September 3, 2014Shinzō Abe14Yoshio MochizukiSeptember 3, 2014October 7, 201515Tamayo MarukawaOctober 7, 2015August 3, 201616Koichi YamamotoAugust 3, 2016August 3, 201717Masaharu NakagawaAugust 3, 2017October 2, 201818Yoshiaki HaradaOctober 2, 2018September 11, 201919Shinjirō KoizumiSeptember 11, 2019October 4, 2021Yoshihide Suga20Tsuyoshi YamaguchiOctober 4, 2021August 10, 2022Fumio Kishida21Akihiro NishimuraAugust 10, 2022September 13, 202322Shintaro ItoSeptember 13, 2023October 1, 202423Keiichiro AsaoOctober 1, 2024October 21, 2025Shigeru Ishiba24Hirotaka IshiharaOctober 21, 2025September 17, 2026Sanae Takaichi25Hiroyoshi SasagawaSeptember 17, 2026Incumbent
References