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 |
