Joint Press Release with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the EnvironmentJapan and Ethiopia Signed a Low Carbon Growth Partnership- A Document Concerning the Joint Crediting Mechanism Signed for the First Time in Africa -

On May 27, 2013, Japan and Ethiopia signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a document concerning the JCM (the "Japan-Ethiopia Low Carbon Growth Partnership").

The signing ceremony was held with officials involved from the government of Ethiopia, including Mr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher Yohannes, Director-General Environmental Protection Authority, and the Embassy of Japan attending.

Both countries will establish a joint committee to operate the JCM. Japan will contribute to international efforts to prevent global warming by cooperating in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Ethiopia through the mechanism.

• To promote the Low Carbon Growth Partnership between Japan and Ethiopia, both sides will establish the JCM and also establish a Joint Committee to operate it.
• Both sides mutually recognize that verified emission reductions or removals by the mitigation projects under the JCM can be used as a part of their own internationally pledged mitigation efforts.
• Both sides ensure transparency and the environmental integrity of the JCM, and that neither side will use any mitigation projects registered under the JCM for the purpose of any other international climate mitigation mechanisms.

The Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) is a program in which Japan's contribution to reduction and absorption of greenhouse gas emissions in partner countries through transferring Japan's low-carbon technology and products is calculated and evaluated as credits for contribution. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) are jointly proceeding with bilateral negotiations with countries that are interested in the mechanism. This Japan-Ethiopia partnership is the first partnership signed by Japan for this purpose in Africa, as well as the third one internationally following the partnerships signed with Mongolia and Bangladesh.

• Text of the “Low Carbon Growth Partnership between the Japanese side and the Ethiopian side” (PDF:64KB)

May 27, 2013

Global Environmental Partnership and Technologies Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau