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11th Annual Meeting of the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) Held

October 11, 2024

On October 9 and 10, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) held the 11th annual meeting of the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) in a hybrid format. With "How to Live within the Planetary Boundaries through Green Innovation" as the main theme, participants discussed green innovation, which is the essential key to solving the global warming problem. Around 1,700 people from 93 countries and regions registered to attend.

Overview of the conference

ICEF, an international platform established in 2014 on Japan's initiative, invites experts and leaders in different fields from all over the world to promote discussion and cooperation between academia, industry, and government officials, with the aim of solving climate change issues through energy and environment-related innovation.

The 11th meeting was held in a hybrid format over two days (October 9 and 10) as part of Tokyo GX Week, which is an intensive series of international conferences related to energy and the environment held with a view toward achieving GX (green transformation). The main theme was "How to Live within the Planetary Boundaries through Green Innovation", focusing on green innovation as the essential key to solving the global warming problem. The topics discussed included planetary boundaries (the concept of safe areas of activity and their limits within which humans can survive) and the energy transition, climate stabilization technologies such as carbon dioxide removal, hydrogen readiness, and nuclear energy.

Mr. IWATA Kazuchika, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, delivered opening remarks at the meeting, in which he emphasized that the acceleration of GX toward 2030 is important to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and that creating innovation is the essential key in a dramatically changing global situation. He expressed his hope that decarbonization efforts will be further promoted to achieve carbon neutrality globally. 

The forum saw global leaders in energy and environment-related fields take the stage in 13 sessions. Among them were Johan Fredrik Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet, Ambassador of the European Union to Japan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus Vaclav Smil, and Ms. Helle Kristoffersen, President Asia of TotalEnergies. In many sessions, people from the younger generations (young innovators) participated in the discussions. 

Based on the series of discussions, a statement was released by the ICEF Steering Committee, along with the publication of a draft of the roadmap (Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation 2.0) recommending approaches and methods for the major innovative technologies that will contribute in the short and long terms to achieving carbon neutrality. The roadmap will be edited to reflect public comments, then the final version will be announced at COP29 (the 29th UN Climate Change Conference) to be held in the Republic of Azerbaijan in November 2024.

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