The Global Environment Centre Foundation (GEC) engages in a wide range of activities to promote projects for conserving the global environment through international cooperation, including providing technical assistance to developing countries, addressing climate change mitigation and international training, as well as helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Paris Agreement.
To support the activities of the United Nations Environment Programme International Environmental Technology Centre (UNEP-IETC), which is also an objective of the GEC’s establishment, projects have been implemented in cooperation with the City of Osaka, including a workshop on waste management and support for UNEP Sustainability Action. Efforts have also been made to promote a key strategy to tackle plastic pollution, which is one of the most pressing issues facing our planet.
Elsewhere in the field of international cooperation, we will continue to support national and local governments in promoting their key policies through our projects in support of market opportunities in Asia, including Promotion of the Water Environment Business, and Support for Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan and Korea (TEMM).
With regard to climate action, the Japanese government issued a 2050 Carbon Neutral declaration in October 2020, followed by the announcement of a policy in April 2021 for a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the FY2013 level by FY2030. Under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), implemented in coordination with developing countries, Japan has been promoting initiatives to share credits for reducing GHGs with partner countries through bilateral climate action projects, which is acclaimed as a model of the cooperative approaches set forth in Article 6(2) of the Paris Agreement.
The GEC is supporting climate action overseas through the promotion of JCM and active implementation of various JCM-related projects. Concrete actions include acting as an implementing organisation of the Financing Programme for JCM Model Projects, which provide financial support to climate action projects in JCM partner countries, and a programme aimed at demonstrating hydrogen and other new technologies for dissemination through JCM projects. We have also been taking action to support a series of JCM procedures, ranging from registration as JCM projects to credit issuance, for model projects that commenced operation following the completion of the financing programme.
The world is now experiencing increasingly frequent weather events considered to be caused by global warming, such as localised torrential rains and powerful storms, as well as emerging environment and human rights issues including those related to resource extraction. Consistent efforts to conserve the global environment, including through the reduction of GHG emissions, are indispensable in order to avoid the most serious consequences such as food crises and devastating natural disasters.
The GEC remains strongly committed to helping achieve the SDGs and the global warming agenda under the Paris Agreement, working with relevant organisations with heightened awareness of global trends and leveraging our expertise, experience and networks both in Japan and overseas. We thus believe that the GEC will play an even more important role going forward.
The GEC is determined actively to engage in cooperation with, and support for UNEP-IETC particularly through national and international communication efforts, including through Expo 2025 in Osaka, Kansai.
We would appreciate your continued understanding and support for our activities.
July 2024
SHIMOJO Shinji
President
Global Environment Centre Foundation
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