Month: October 2020

July 10, 2020

On July 9 (Thur.), 2020, an IEA Clean Energy Transitions Summit was held via video conference organized by the International Energy Agency (IEA), and Mr. Kajiyama Hiroshi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, attended the meeting. At this meeting, participating ministers and other stakeholders from countries around the world focused on the importance of clean energy transitions toward sustainable economic recovery from damages caused by global expansion of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and confirmed their cooperation with each other in achieving this goal. Following the meeting, a Chair’s Statement was issued.

This IEA Clean Energy Transitions Summit was held in response to a call by the IEA from the standpoint that “clean energy transitions” are the exact measures to be included in the major measures for future economic recovery in light of the unprecedented crisis caused by expansion of COVID-19. The meeting was held via video conference and Minister Kajiyam attended the meeting.

At the meeting, Minister Kajiyama stated the importance of establishing robust and clean energy systems, which international society has recognized anew through the global expansion of COVID-19. Based on this, he presented a basic policy in which energy transitions should be advanced in accordance with the particular situations faced by respective countries and explained Japan’s specific efforts for placing renewable energy as a main source of electricity and for fading out use of inefficient coal-fired power plants. Finally, he stressed the importance of contributions to decarbonization at a global level through international cooperation in a more workable manner, while referring to specific examples, such as promotion of innovations under the “virtuous cycle of environmental friendliness and economic growth,” a concept on which G20 leaders agreed in 2019 under the chairmanship of Japan, and three international conferences hosted by Japan in the fall of 2019 in the fields of LNG, hydrogen and carbon recycling.

In addition, the ministers and representatives of private companies in attendance focused on approaches to breaking away from the crisis situations caused by COVID-19 as early as possible and, to this end, held discussions on necessary policies for promoting clean energy transitions that contribute to creating employment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions as measures for encouraging investments in energy-related industries and accelerating economic recovery in the post COVID-19 era.

Following the end of the meeting, a Chair’s Statement was issued, mainly presenting the following points.

• Participants welcomed the results of a variety of analyses, including a package of approaches to economic recovery, world investment reports and other documents which the IEA released, and those of the respective ministerial meetings organized by the IEA in the past several months, including the IEA Ministerial Meeting on Electricity held in May 2020.
• They noted the negative impacts of the current crisis situations on clean energy transitions and energy security, and, based on this, recognized the importance of expanding global investments (in particular, private investments) in energy and promoting innovations of clean energy technologies for the purpose of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
• They requested the IEA to continue to lead global energy transitions through continuing efforts for monitoring of recent economic stimulation measures and supporting member countries toward sustainable economic recovery.
• They agreed to hold a Clean Energy Transitions Summit again in around the middle of 2021.

July 9, 2020

Outcomes of the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting

On July 8, 2020, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the intellectual property (IP) offices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States held the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting via video conference. At the meeting, participants agreed to inaugurate an ASEAN-Japan Patent Experts Meeting as a body to hold expert discussions on both the development of patent examination guidelines in the field of emerging technologies and on patent translation issues.

Background

The ASEAN Member States have been advancing efforts for improving the IP environment in the ASEAN region in accordance with the ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Action Plan 2016-2025 formulated under the framework of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC).

In accordance with these efforts, the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting was held via video conference, aiming to further advance Japan-ASEAN IP cooperation.

Summary of the outcomes

With its inauguration in 2012, the Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting has been held for the tenth time this year. In the past, Japan and the ASEAN Member States achieved certain outcomes through a variety of efforts upheld in the action plans, as seen in a sharp increase in the number of ASEAN Member States which newly acceded to the Madrid Protocol, the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement and other international treaties, which resulted in contributing to international business development of Japanese companies. At the tenth meeting, on this occasion, we agreed on the FY2020 Japan-ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan, including the inauguration of an ASEAN-Japan Patent Experts Meeting which will serve as an opportunity for Japan and the ASEAN Member States to share information on the development of patent examination guidelines in the field of emerging technologies and on patent translation issues, with an eye on further enhancement of cooperative ties in the future.

Outline of the FY2020 Japan-ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan

• Inauguration of an ASEAN-Japan Patent Experts Meeting to serve as an opportunity for Japan and the ASEAN Member States to share information on the development of patent examination guidelines in the field of emerging technologies and on patent translation issues;
• Investigation and research by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) into patent examination systems of Japan and ASEAN Member States in the field of emerging technologies;
• Cooperation in accession of ASEAN Member States to the international application system (Madrid Protocol/Hague Agreement) and cooperation in its operation;
• Cooperation in human resource development and management of examination practices; and
• Cooperation in IP commercialization and awareness-raising of IP.

In addition, Mr. Akira Matsunaga, Commissioner of the JPO, stated that there is no doubt that innovation will be a powerful tool against COVID-19 and, accordingly, pointed out that it is necessary for Japan and ASEAN Member States to further strengthen cooperation and together harmonize the intellectual property system itself toward promotion of innovation, and he shared the same recognition with participating ASEAN Member States.

Future actions

The JPO will further enrich mutual cooperation with ASEAN IP offices through holding top-level conferences and expert meetings and will proactively advance efforts for development of IP systems in ASEAN Member States and evolution of the systems. Through these efforts, the JPO will strive to contribute to encouraging and assisting Japanese companies in appropriately protecting their IP rights in the ASEAN Member States.

July 8, 2020

Total steel demand for the second quarter of FY2020 (July-September 2020) is estimated to be 17.28 million tons. Demand will decrease by 24.3% compared with 22.81 million tons in the previous year due to the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease (hereinafter referred to as “coronavirus”), while it is later estimated to slightly increase by 1.1% compared with 17.09 million tons in the previous quarter’s forecast due to a pick-up in production activities of consumers as well as other factors.

• Domestic demand:
  Construction: Steel demand in the construction sector will decrease on a year-on-year basis and remain flat from the previous quarter’s forecast since: demand in the civil engineering sector is expected to increase for public construction in association with national initiatives for building national resilience, e.g., renovation of aged infrastructure facilities and measures for disaster prevention and reduction, while demand in the architecture sector is expected to remain sluggish due to impacts of the coronavirus and other factors.
  Manufacturing: Demand for steel in the manufacturing sector will decrease on a year-on-year basis due to the impact of the coronavirus and other factors, while in automobile manufacturing it is expected to increase from the previous quarter’s forecast due to a a step-by-step increase in production levels by Japanese automobile manufacturers.
• Steel exports:
  Steel exports will decrease not only on a year-on-year basis but also from the previous quarter’s forecast due to the impact of the coronavirus as well as various other factors.

Crude steel demand for this quarter is estimated to be 17.70 million tons, which is a decrease of 27.9% compared with 24.55 million tons in the previous year and a decrease of 3.2% compared with 18.29 million tons in the previous quarter’s forecast.

Steel Demand Prospects for the Second Quarter of FY2020 (July -September 2020)

(Unit: million tons)

		Total Steel
			Ordinary Steel	Special Steel
Steel Demand	17.28	14.14	3.14
Year-on-year change	(22.81) -24.3%	(18.17) -22.2%	(4.65) -32.4%
Change compared with the previous quarter’s forecast	(17.09) +1.1%	(13.95) +1.4%	(3.14) -0.0%
	1) Domestic Demand	11.97	9.79	2.18
	Year-on-year change	(15.38) -22.1%	(12.13) -19.3%	(3.25) -32.8%
	Change compared with the previous quarter’s forecast	(11.40) +5.0%	(9.35) +4.7%	(2.05) +6.5%
	2) Export	5.30	4.35	0.95
	Year-on-year change	(7.43) -28.6%	(6.04) -27.9%	(1.39) -31.6%
	Change compared with the previous quarter’s forecast	(5.69) -6.8%	(4.60) -5.4%	(1.09) -12.4%

References:

Crude steel demand equivalent to shipment: 17.70 million tons

Year-on-year change: (24.55 million tons) -27.9%

Change from the previous quarter’s forecast: (18.29 million tons) -3.2%

Ordinary steel: Inventory of makers and wholesalers

Inventory of makers and wholesalers (end-June forecast): 6.26 million tons; Inventory turnover: 1.41 months

Inventory for the domestic market among the above inventory (end-June forecast): 5.39 million tons; Inventory turnover: 1.85 months

Notes:

• The figures in parentheses show the quantity for the same period of the previous year, or the previous quarter’s forecast for comparison purposes (unit: million tons).
• The total steel amount does not always correspond to the combination of subtotals since those figures are calculated per thousand tons.

July 7, 2020

Supporting Efforts of Companies Paving the Way to Realization of Decarbonized Society by Taking Advantage of Innovations

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), in collaboration with Keidanren and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), will embark on a new project aiming to: prepare a list of companies paving the way to realization of a decarbonized society by taking advantage of innovations; and provide such companies’ information of which investors and other stakeholders are able to make use, such as names of companies, fields in which these companies are engaging and the companies’ ongoing phases of research and development (R&D). Through this project, METI will encourage companies to attract private funds, including ESG investments, in the field of Zero-Emission Innovations.

Background

Measures against climate change are urgent issues that global society cannot waste time in adopting and promoting. To address this situation, the Government of Japan formulated the Zero Emission Innovation Strategy on January 21, 2020, in accordance with the Long-Term Strategy under the Paris Agreement as Growth Strategy and the Integrated Innovation Strategy 2019, and identified the fields of innovations in which Japan will contribute to decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at a global level, in particular, in the fields of energy and the environment where Japan has advantages.

On July 7, 2020, the government inaugurated a Green Innovation Strategy Promotion Meeting (chair: Mr. Yamaji Kenji, Senior Vice President and Director General, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth) as a framework for achieving the strategies mentioned above. The meeting held its first meeting and received a briefing on a “Zero-Emission Challenge,” a project for supporting efforts of companies paving the way to realization of a decarbonized society by taking advantage of innovations.

Note: This issue was also discussed at the Study Group on Environmental Innovation Finance organized by METI (chair: Dr. Ito Kunio, Professor and Director, Graduate School of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University) in order to ascertain the standpoints of investors and other stakeholders.

Outline of the Zero-Emission Challenge

METI, in collaboration with Keidanren and NEDO, will prepare a list of “Companies Taking on the Zero-Emission Challenge,” i.e., companies taking on the Zero Emission Innovation Strategy or boldly taking on innovations toward realization of a decarbonized society under the Challenge Zero policy undertaken by Keidanren, and will convey the list to people at home and abroad.

Specifically, METI will prepare and publish a “List of Companies Taking on the Zero-Emission Challenge” in order to make visible the types of innovations in which companies are engaging and such companies’ ongoing R&D phases. Through this effort, METI will aim to present referential information to investors and other stakeholders at home and abroad to help them decide on targets of their investment or funding (for the summary of the list, see the Appendix).

METI expects that financial organizations and organizations providing information utilization services will make use of the information in the list and will horizontally share the information among stakeholders when making decisions on individual investment or funding or developing new financial instruments, e.g., indices.

Concerning the list of companies, which will be conveyed to people at home and abroad, METI considers it important to regularly review and update the list to include the latest information and, from this viewpoint, the Green Innovation Strategy Promotion Meeting, which was inaugurated on July 7, 2020, will regularly review and update it.

Schedules

July 7, 2020	– Make a briefing at a meeting of the Green Innovation Strategy Promotion Meeting – Release the overview of the project Notes: 1. METI, in collaboration with Keidanren and NEDO, will design the details of the project. 2. METI will convey information on the progress in the project from time to time on its website and by other means.
Around October 2020	– Release the list “Companies Taking on the Zero-Emission Challenge” (first announcement) Note: This list is expected to be conveyed to the world at such opportunities as the TCFD Summit.
FY2021	– Release detailed information, e.g., mapping of companies
Other schedule	– Convey the list to the world at international conferences, e.g., COP26

July 3, 2020

Effort under the Act on Promoting the Utilization of Sea Areas for the Development of Marine Renewable Energy Power Generation Facilities

The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ports and Harbours Bureau under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) selected FY2020 “sea areas considered to have progressed to a certain level of preparations for starting projects” and “promising sea areas” for the purpose of future designation of project target areas under the Act on Promoting the Utilization of Sea Areas for the Development of Marine Renewable Energy Power Generation Facilities (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”).

Specifically, they selected ten sea areas as those considered to have progressed to a certain level of preparations for starting projects. As four sea areas out of the ten were determined to be promising areas, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau will start preparations for organizing the council under the Act and for government-led wind-conditions and geological research in the four areas.

Overview

Under the Act, the government of Japan is required to stipulate basic policies, designate every fiscal year the sea areas as target areas for certain projects for promoting utilization of such areas and then select businesses as organizers of the projects through public calls.

Following on from the first selection of promising sea areas and sites in July 2019, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau have been collecting and aggregating information on sea areas that municipalities and other organizations hold and offered to ANRE and the bureau from December 13, 2019, to February 14, 2020, for FY2020 selection.

In accordance with the Guidelines for Designating Target Sea Areas in which Power Generation Facilities Using Maritime Renewable Energy are Developed, which was formulated in June 11, 2019, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau selected ten sea areas which are considered to have progressed to a certain level of preparations for starting projects, based on the information collected from municipalities and other organizations and the opinions offered by a third-party committee of experts.

As four sea areas out of the ten were determined to be promising areas, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau will start preparations for organizing the council under the Act and for government-led wind-conditions and geological research in the four areas.

Selected ten sea areas considered to have progressed to a certain level of preparations for starting projects

Based on the information offered by municipalities and other organizations, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau selected the following ten sea areas as those considered to have progressed to a certain level of preparations for starting projects.

• Sea area offshore the Gan-u and Minamishiribeshi regions, Hokkaido Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Hiyama, Hokkaido Prefecture
• Sea of Japan offshore Aomori Prefecture (northern side of the prefecture)
• Sea of Japan offshore Aomori Prefecture (southern side of the prefecture)
• Mutsu Bay, Aomori Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Happo Town and Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Katagami City and Akita City, Akita Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Yuza Town, Yamagata Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Murakami City and Tainai City, Niigata Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Eno Island, Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture

Out of the promising sea areas selected in FY2019, the sea area offshore Yurihonjo City, Akita Prefecture (estimated power output: about 700,000 kW) was divided into two areas and then they were designated as project target areas from the viewpoints of ensuring competitiveness and other elements. In response, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau decided to open a call for applicants for project operators for the two areas at a time. Against this backdrop, they may hold discussions on such division concerning the ten selected sea areas above as well according to the estimated power output of the areas.

Promising four sea areas about which preparations for organizing the council under the Act and other actions will start

As the following four sea areas out of the ten have made progress in developing the environment for starting projects, e.g., reaching prior consent with local residents, they were determined to be promising areas. In response, ANRE and the Ports and Harbours Bureau will start preparations for organizing the council under the Act and for government-led wind-conditions and geological research in the four areas.

• Sea of Japan offshore Aomori Prefecture (northern side of the prefecture)
• Sea of Japan offshore Aomori Prefecture (southern side of the prefecture)
• Sea area offshore Happo Town and Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture
• Sea area offshore Eno Island, Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture

Points to be noted in advancing projects in the future in six areas out of the ten

In the six sea areas of the ten, except the four areas mentioned in Item 3 above, projects should be advanced in the future bearing in mind the following points to be noted.

• Sea area offshore the Gan-u and Minamishiribeshi regions, Hokkaido Prefecture
  Securing power grids as well as identification of and coordination with stakeholders are needed.
• Sea area offshore Hiyama, Hokkaido Prefecture
  Securing power grids as well as identification of and coordination with stakeholders are needed.
• Mutsu Bay, Aomori Prefecture
  Identification of and coordination with stakeholders are needed.
• Sea area offshore Katagami City and Akita City, Akita Prefecture
  Identification of and coordination with stakeholders are needed.
• Sea area offshore Yuza Town, Yamagata Prefecture
  Securing power grids is needed.
• Sea area offshore Murakami City and Tainai City, Niigata Prefecture
  Securing power grids as well as identification of and coordination with stakeholders are needed.

Note: The respective names of the selected sea areas released herein are those offered by the municipalities among other information they presented.