Japan to use COP31 to showcase environmental technologies

Increasing the world’s electrification to 35% by 2035 is a key goal of COP31, the annual international climate change conference which began Monday in Antalya, Turkey.

While Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will not attend the conference, expected to draw 90,000 representatives from 200 countries and running until Nov. 20, Japan is using the event to showcase environmental technologies to help meet the electrification goal.

As COP31 host, Turkey is proposing a collective global goal to increase the share of final energy demand from electricity from just over 20% today to 35% by 2035.

The target is based on analysis from the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency and is designed to support implementation of the Paris Agreement and help keep the world on a pathway consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The Environment Ministry’s COP31 Japan Pavilion features Japanese firms involved in providing a variety of advanced environmental technologies to increase electrification, including the use of perovskite solar cells.

Perovskite solar cells are light, flexible and can be installed in places where it’s difficult to put in more conventional solar cells.

The primary material for producing perovskite solar cells is iodine, and Japan has the second-largest share (about 30%) of its global production. Takaichi sees perovskite solar cells as a crucial part of Japan’s future energy policy.

“While conventional solar power generation is almost entirely dominated by China, I think the focus will shift to advanced technologies such as perovskite,” says Kenichiro Yamaguchi of the Mitsubishi Research Institute.

Other initiatives Japan is promoting at COP31 include energy conservation, carbon capture and storage, and waste reduction technologies.

Japan’s delegation is being led by Environment Minister Hiroyoshi Sasagawa, after Takaichi declined, for the second time, to attend the conference, citing a busy domestic schedule to attend the parliamentary debate over the tax cut bill.

This year marks the third year in a row a Japanese prime minister has been absent. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters on Monday that only three prime ministers have attended the climate summits over the past 30 years.

Yamaguchi says that looking at past summits, it’s rare for the prime minister to participate. Normally, the head of the Japanese negotiating team is the environment minister. When the prime minister shows up, COP is then considered a forum for diplomacy that goes beyond climate change. That can mean talks end up deviating somewhat from individual business matters

“However, if the prime minister doesn’t participate, it may be difficult to make progress on major initiatives, such as economic cooperation that contributes to the dissemination of Japanese technology,” he said.