News
Green Transformation
On Nov 2, Toyota Motor Corp president Akio Toyoda raised the issue of tax breaks in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on support for the mobility industry. According to the Toyota executive, the prime minister showed a willingness to keep the discussion going. Toyoda indicated that he is confident that Toyota is able to kick off a discussion about Japan’s carbon neutrality efforts and digital transformation with mobility as core.
Clean Energy
The first Etihad Airways flight to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplied by ITOCHU Corporation and NESTE took off from Tokyo Narita airport recently. This achievement was the result of a partnership in which ITOCHU provided Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel to Etihad, making Etihad the first international airline to procure SAF in Japan.
【VIEW】
https://biofuels-news.com/news/etihad-uses-saf-for-first-time-at-japans-narita-airport/
Green Finance
Woodside Energy has joined forces with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in a move that aims to secure a stable supply of energy for Japan and accelerate its decarbonisation goals. The partners signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will see both parties identifying potential projects which Woodside may be able to offer support. These projects cover a wide range of areas such as liquefied natural gas supply and new energy products.
【VIEW】
https://www.gasworld.com/story/woodside-in-new-deal-to-secure-energy-supply-for-japan/
Carbon Neutrality
A town called Setouchi, which is in the southern part of Amami-Oshima island, declared in July that it would achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, Setouchi has been growing about 300 mangrove seedlings since June. Mangroves are believed to absorb carbon dioxide at a high rate.
【VIEW】
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/03/news/town-tackles-carbon-dioxide-with-mangrove-expansion/
Decarbonisation
Apple Inc. announced that it will require its global supply chain to take new steps to address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. It is pledged to evaluate the efforts of its key partners to reduce emissions in Apple-related operations. Under Apple’s new initiative, more than 200 suppliers worldwide have committed to using clean energy sources such as wind and solar power to produce Apple’s products, 55 of which are Chinese suppliers. Apple intends to determine the list of suppliers it will continue to work with according to their carbon footprint.
【VIEW】
https://www.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1450605.html
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/7830ecd98c244fc7622dd2a0e2c91c094d5a9582
Carbon Offsets
Dentsu Inc. has partnered with TBS TV to develop a program called “Green CM (Commercial Message)”. Its purpose is to calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the broadcast of television advertisements as a means of achieving carbon neutrality. Green CM allows advertiser companies to implement carbon offsets through the program. Dentsu will calculate the GHG emissions of TV commercials based on the GHG Protocol and purchase J-credits on behalf of advertiser companies.
【VIEW】
https://dentsu-ho.com/articles/8396
Perspectives
Green Transformation 【The Asahi Shimbun】
The Japanese government is considering introducing full-fledged carbon pricing programs, which is deemed as a step in the right direction. Carbon pricing is an approach for efficiently reducing carbon emissions by using market mechanisms to pass on the cost of emitting greenhouse gasses to polluters, however, in the past, the government has been reluctant to expand or upgrade the tax in the face of opposition from industries that don’t want to shoulder a heavier financial burden. At an October meeting of an expert panel, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister for economy, trade and industry to propose at the next meeting a new system that imposes charges on carbon emissions in order to provide sufficient finance support to prune companies’ carbon footprints.
【VIEW】
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14759660
Carbon Pricing 【Carbon Tracker】
Japan has subscribed to a G7 pledge of achieving a predominantly decarbonised power sector by 2035 whereas Japan’s current policy framework is insufficient to deliver this goal and a significant acceleration in renewables deployment is required. The new report from Carbon Tracker suggests that the current carbon price of $2.6/tonCO2 must be replaced with a minimum price of at least $30/tonCO2 to prevent gas to coal switching and drive clean energy transition. The report also indicates that a transition to renewables could decouple Japan from its history of high electricity bills, bring lower prices, increased stability, and greater energy security to Japanese consumers.
Decarbonisation Tech 【Kakigi Kouji】
Blast furnace ironmaking emits a significant amount of carbon dioxide, accounting for 40% of the total emissions from the manufacturing industry in Japan. Given that there is no such technology that can entirely eliminate the GHG emission from the steel production now, the Japanese steel industry can only achieve carbon neutrality by improving existing process technologies and converting blast furnaces to electric furnaces to reduce emissions. Kakigi Kouji, Chairman and CEO of JFE Holdings, believes that they can create a new business model if they can build manufacturing technologies that meet the needs for emission reductions required by carbon neutrality. JFE Holdings has a large budget for achieving carbon reduction and is promoting a consensus within the company.
【VIEW】
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOCD203BX0Q2A021C2000000/
Climate Policy 【JETRO】
The Korea Carbon Neutral and Green Growth Council held its first meeting on October 26th and proposed a “Carbon Neutral and Green Growth Promotion Strategy” and a “Carbon Neutral and Green Growth Technology Innovation Strategy”. The former includes ensuring a balance between nuclear and renewable energy sources, optimizing the energy structure, and optimizing efficiency through the use of computers and information technologies. The latter is the strategy that orients Korea’s technology development to achieve carbon neutrality, which includes: 1. private-sector-led carbon neutral technology innovation 2. fast and flexible investment in R&D regarding carbon neutrality. 3. building the foundation for innovative technology development.
【VIEW】
https://www.jetro.go.jp/biznews/2022/11/8c7fcb5e5c8da889.html
Climate Policy 【JETRO】
On October 26, the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee and six other departments announced a specific proposal based on the “Implementation Plans for Emission Peaking in Shanghai”, which includes 10 projects and 22 areas as specific measures to achieve the goal. The proposal has three main goals: 1. to research and develop 100 low-carbon core technologies in energy, industry and other fields by 2025; 2. to create 10 key demonstration projects; and 3. to establish 10 carbon-neutral related experimental facilities and 5 green technologies. In addition to this, the report also points out the need to cultivate low-carbon science and technology talents and innovation teams to elevate the relevant fields to an internationally advanced level.
【VIEW】
https://www.jetro.go.jp/biznews/2022/11/fd66c9f6c5c6a5a5.html
Interpretations
【Climate Policy】Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Takes Carbon Neutrality Seriously as Decarbonisation Becomes Part of Tender Evaluation
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) began considering a system to provide incentives for companies that engage in decarbonisation in general bidding evaluation and construction performance assessment. On October 11, 2022, MLIT convened a roundtable of experts and construction industry organizations to report on cases of pilot projects and overseas trends regarding this issue. While this system is seen as encouraging energy conservation and emission reduction efforts by the private sector, considering how such measures could be introduced nationwide in the future, some members called for caution in giving points in the overall evaluation.
【VIEW】
https://xtech.nikkei.com/atcl/nxt/column/18/00142/01440/
【Decarbonisation】20 regions nationwide selected as “Leading Carbon Reduction Regions”
Twenty regions throughout Japan have been newly selected as model regions that will take the lead in implementing “carbon neutral” initiatives to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to nearly zero. The Ministry of the Environment and Energy hopes to encourage energy conservation and emission reduction through initiatives tailored to the economic and geographic characteristics of each region, and has selected approximately 100 regions nationwide as “Future Carbon Reduction Regions”, where local governments and private organizations are working together to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
【VIEW】
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20221101/amp/k10013876791000.html
【Decarbonisation】Sinopec Group and Shell sign a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding
Sinopec Group signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shell, China Baowu and BASF SE to develop 10 million tons of carbon capture. This open source project will help industries in the region to decarbonize their operations and establish a low carbon supply chain to lead the development of China Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and achieve the region’s “emission peaking, carbon naturality” goal. CCUS is a kind of decarbonisation technology. It has the potential to reduce carbon emissions on a large scale and is a key factor in achieving carbon neutrality.
【VIEW】
https://www.shinmai.co.jp/news/article/PRPW202211079367
【Green Transformation】Japan probes ‘green transition’ bonds ahead of full-scale emissions trading in FY2026
On Oct. 26, the Japanese government convened a meeting on decarbonization and other measures to promote Japan’s green transformation, launching discussions on the introduction of “GX economic transition bonds” while eyeing the full-fledged introduction of emissions trading in fiscal 2026. It is estimated that the government will raise 20 trillion yen through transition bonds. At that meeting, Prime MInister Fumio Kishida instructed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura to present a concrete system proposal about combining charges for carbon with an emissions trading market at the next meeting.
【VIEW】
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221027/p2a/00m/0bu/008000c
【Carbon Market】Can Nature based offsets be traded?| Nature and Article 6 carbon markets at COP27
A carbon offset represents the reduction or removal of CO2e (one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent) from the atmosphere achieved by a particular project. Once purchased, a carbon offset certificate can be used by the buyer to demonstrate that its emissions generated in one place have been compensated for by an emission reduction elsewhere. Given that many lower and middle-income countries have a wealth of preserved nature, it is important for them to understand how Article 6 (of the Paris Agreement) carbon markets will apply to nature-based carbon offsets. Since there is vagueness whether the scope of ITMOs (International transferred mitigation outcomes) and A6.4ERs include forest-related activities or nature-based solutions, it remains for COP27 to decide whether avoidance activities in any sector can qualify as ITMOs or 6.4ERs.
【VIEW】
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9c01aca6-4e43-4b90-8f3c-201a3fa3c44e
【Decarbonisation】From high-cost carbon reduction to adaptive infrastructure
The technology for large-scale CO2 absorption does not exist yet. However, it is not technically impossible to achieve – the only practical technology to achieve the 1.5°C target is “climate engineering”, and SAI, although harmless, is dangerous if it is abruptly terminated. Therefore, international permission is needed, and it is more realistic to adapt to the carbon reduction requirements by improving the infrastructure. This is a meaningful method for Japan to deal with CO2 emission in a broad sense.
【VIEW】
https://agora-web.jp/archives/221107084257.html
Other resources
ESG Data Disclosure in China – Key ESG Indicator Recommendations
Transformation of China’s Electricity and Energy Industry Series – The Road to Transformation of State-owned Power Groups – PwC
Transformation of China’s Electricity and Energy Industry Series – The Road to Transformation of State-owned Power Groups – PwC
Events
Upcoming Events
Nov.17 Webinar Scaling USDA Grower-facing Sustainability Initiatives
Nov. 18 Webinar Medium and Small companies need to concentrate on the following aspects (of carbon neutrality) in order for businesses to boost
【DETAIL】
https://es-jpn.com/seminar/