ERIA President Calls for Mitigation Measures to Achieve Carbon Neutrality

Tokyo, 26 September 2022: Highlighting the role of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) in Asia, Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura, President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), called for mitigation measures in the region to achieve carbon neutrality. He made the statement at the 4th International Conference on Carbon Recycling, Tokyo, Japan, on 26 September 2022. Organised by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Japan, the conference discussed the progress on Japan's carbon-recycling efforts, a key technology in achieving global carbon neutrality, and the convening of global wisdom from industry, academia, and government to address the challenges that will arise when the technology is used on a societal scale.

Prof Nishimura said CCUS is the most crucial technology for decarbonisation pathways and is indispensable for Asia, with its high dependence on fossil fuels. He added that to achieve Paris Agreement–compatible pathways, massive expansion of carbon dioxide capture is necessary globally, from 40 million tonnes to 5.6 billion tonnes in the next 30 years. To achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in the ASEAN region, he announced ERIA's partnership with the Institute of Energy Economics Japan to conduct studies on the cost-optimal deployment of energy technology and with participating ASEAN countries. The ERIA President reported that the institute is communicating crucial policy messages towards the goals of secure, reliable, and sustainable energy.

Mr Minami Ryo, METI’s Deputy Commissioner for International Policy on Carbon Neutrality, opened the conference by discussing how to move forward with decarbonisation initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality whilst maintaining stable energy supply. He said that it is vital to create and develop all types of technology, such as hydrogen, renewable energy, and carbon recycling. He stressed the importance of carbon-recycling technology that uses carbon dioxide as a resource.

Representatives from the Republic of Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the US Department of Energy, the International Energy Agency, ERIA, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources Canada, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Japan’s Carbon Recycling Fund Institute delivered speeches.

A three-session panel discussion was held on investments and start-ups, research and development (R&D), human resource development, issue identification, carbon recycling/CCUS R&D, and demonstration base for carbon recycling.

Closing the conference, Mr Ishizuka Hiroaki, Chairman of NEDO, pondered three points: start-up efforts to implement carbon-recycling technologies and products in society as well as investors' approach to such ambitious endeavours, development of carbon-recycling technologies from the perspective of companies and universities, and the potential of R&D and the demonstration base to accelerate the development of carbon-recycling technologies. He noted that numerous stakeholders throughout the world are adopting various approaches to carbon recycling, such as the development of technologies and finance and enhancement of the research environment.