Comprehensive activities

The 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. As part of the Japan Pavilion’s side events, a session titled “Climate-Related Disclosure in Asia: Advancing Transparency for SMEs – Current Status and Future Directions” was conducted on November 20, 2024.

This event brought together various stakeholders, including government, donors, the financial sector, and private sectors, to share the progress in developing systems related to reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and disclosure of climate-related information by companies in ASEAN member countries.
During the panel discussion, participants highlighted the challenges faced by ASEAN countries and discussed ASEAN's future progress in calculating and reporting GHG emissions and reduction and climate-related information disclosure. A significant focus was placed on involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Key points raised included the importance of reporting comparable data through developing standards for ASEAN, access to support resources, and cross-sector collaboration, such as knowledge sharing between public and private entities to facilitate the adoption of GHG emissions reporting and climate-related disclosure practices.

On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, a side event for the PaSTI-JAIF project was held at the Singapore Pavilion of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Opening remarks were made by Mr. Ito, Minister of Environment, Japan and Ms. Fu, Minister of Sustainability and Environment, Singapore followed by speeches from the ASEAN Secretariat. The World Bank and the PaSTI Secretariat shared on projects related to GHG emission reductions in the ASEAN region.

The World Bank presentation mentioned the current status of cooperation on carbon pricing in ASEAN member countries and the potential synergies with the PaSTI-JAIF project.
Moreover, the PaSTI Secretariat gave an overview of the PaSTI-JAIF project, which entered Phase 3 in July 2023, as well as details of the pilot project and its implementation.

The panel discussion began with a presentation from Lao PDR, representing an ASEAN member country, which reported on the MRV system in the waste sector that is in the implementation stage and shared plans for project implementation. After that, the panelists discussed the challenges and expectations for the implementation of the Phase 3 pilot project of the PaSTI-JAIF project.

Agenda and Recording：COP28 Special Contents ｜ Overseas Environmental Cooperation Center, Japan (oecc.or.jp)

Presentations and discussions were made on efforts to continue to develop the GHG emissions reporting and information disclosure systems that have been implemented to date, as well as on efforts to encourage active participation from the private sector.

The discussion included online participation and invited representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Japan, financial institutions, chambers of commerce and industry, and other non-state actors to discuss sustainable and transitional financing for GHG emission reductions in the Asian region.

The importance of information disclosure was reemphasized through reports on the latest status and initiatives of PaSTI project partner countries, such as Thailand. At the same time, issues such as further spreading the need for transparency to ASEAN countries and establishing a cooperative framework with the private sector were raised.

EXHIBITION - Attracting investments for the future by mobilizing sustainable finance-Discussing the outlook in Asia through the Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation (PaSTI)- | Ministry of the Environment

Aiming at providing an opportunity to share lessons learned or knowhow for enhancing transparency from the perspective of governments, non-state actors and financial institutions in promoting transparency activities in the ASEAN region, the event "Shedding a light on GHG emission in supply chain in Asia -Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation (PaSTI)-" was successfully held in Japan Pavilion at COP27.

Vice Minister Mr. Ono Hiroshi provided the opening statement noting that information disclosure of GHG emissions in private entities are becoming a prerequisite for participating in global supply chains.

Keynote speeches, presentation on PaSTI, and a panel discussion followed, with experts in various fields sharing opinions from each perspective on requirements in achieving a decarbonized corporate management, how to reinforce incentives such as ESG investment, and disclosure/ reporting of Scope 3 emissions throughout the supply chain.

Since it is becoming more and more important to measure and report Scope 3 emissions throughout the supply chain as well as the company’s own emissions to ensure the accountability of the entire value chain, the discussion focused mainly on the significance of cooperation of non-state actors in realizing decarbonized society, and how to effectively engage private companies in order to achieve a decarbonized corporate management in Southeast Asian countries.

Although reinforcing incentives such as ESG investment for private sectors have been effective in accelerating the transparency system, panelists brought into discussion, from their own experiences, many challenges that remain for active participation of private sectors that are part of the supply chain, such as need for capacity building and a new regulation. Thus, the importance of working together to further strengthen incentives and to tackle these challenges was discussed.

The Panelists emphasized that the requirement of the measuring and reporting of Scope 3 supply chain emission could be one of the great opportunities for global cooperation towards decarbonized society. PaSTI will continue to contribute to accelerating transparency, also focusing on Scope 3 supply chain emission. (For more details about PaSTI seminars, please visit PaSTI Official Youtube Channel)

The PaSTI International Seminar was held on 12th November 2021, as an official side event of Japan Pavilion at COP26, entitled “Toward Strengthening Transparency Activities by the Private Sectors -from the Experience of the Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation (PaSTI) in Asia-”. 

This very first event after the expansion of PaSTI's scope was opened by the remarks from H.E. Ms. Grace Fu, Minister of Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore, H.E. Mr. Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi, Minister of the Environment, Japan, and H.E. Mr. Ekkaphab Phanthavong, Deputy Secretary General, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, ASEAN Secretariat.

The Ministers of Singapore and Japan declared aiming to promote the transparency of whole the ASEAN region through development the common GHG Monitoring & Reporting guidelines to the ASEAN region under the PaSTI-JAIF project. Then, the ASEAN secretariat mentioned to welcome the activities.

Ms. Fu and Mr. Phanthavong also announced the launch of the PaSTI-JAIF Project Phase 2.

Aiming at discussing the development of common guidelines for the region and the involvement of private companies in order to strengthen transparency in the ASEAN region, representatives from various sectors were invited for keynote speeches and the panel discussion.

In the keynote speech, Dr. Alisjahbana, UNESCAP, confirmed the need for greater transparency in the Asia-Pacific state and expressed support for PaSTI activities. Then, Prof. Takemoto, OECC, as the implementation agency of the PaSTI project presented the progress of activities including the cooperation to the whole the ASEAN Regions, the bilateral cooperation and specific activity areas, e.g. promoting transparency regarding climate actions by private sectors and strengthening and streamlining the transparency actions at subnational, national and regional level etc.

In the panel discussion, the transparency scale-up was discussed by four panellists from international organizations and private sectors. They expressed their opinions on the ideal form of reporting requirements and the incentive introduction from each perspective, based on the three guiding questions;

1) What are steps for building a transparency system for climate action by the private sector in Asia?

2) How do we increase incentives for climate action by the private sector in line with transparency efforts?

3) How can internal cooperation cover needs in Asia?

The panelists expressed their expectations for the role of the PaSTI projects in the future.

Following the PaSTI International Workshop, as the Open Seminar of “Virtual Japan Pavilion - Innovation for 2050 net zero -”, the PaSTI Focal Points gathered in a closed online setting to exchange information on their countries' readiness of facility level GHG emissions MRV and shared ideas on further collaboration.  The partners of the PaSTI-Bilateral activities, Mr. Albert Magalang from the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Dr. Huy Luong Quang from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam reported the activities conducted in each countries as part of the PaSTI-MOEJ project, and shared lessons learned with all the PaSTI Focal Points. 

The PaSTI Focal Points discussed approaches for enhancing transparency activities with the involvement of the private sector and actively shared their ideas and opinions on the grounded approaches on transparency activities under their own country’s specific situation at the PaSTI Focal Point Round Table. The workshop  highlighted the importance of the involvement of the private sector in achieving the NDC goals and confirmed continuing collaboration with PaSTI.

The PaSTI International Workshop was held on March 10th 2021, as the Open Seminar of “Virtual Japan Pavilion - Innovation for 2050 net zero -”, an online exhibition sharing Japan’s environmental technological strengths and environmental initiatives with people in Japan and around the world. 

This seminar was to stock-take the current efforts to strengthen the GHG transparency in the ASEAN region, and to highlight the role of PaSTI among those initiatives to deepen understanding of the importance of promoting private sector engagement in climate transparency efforts. Following three presentations on overview of current climate transparency related activities in the ASEAN region,  four representatives from the key players in ASEAN region; Business for Sustainable Development, Philippines, National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) Singapore, Regional Collaboration Centre (RCC), UNFCCC, and UNDP, were invited to the panel discussion to discuss future aspects of climate transparency activities in the region towards 2030 and challenges. Participants represented by their  own avatars in the Virtual Japan Pavilion,  actively exchanged opinions through the main screen. 

PaSTI International Workshop, organized by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan and co-hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat Environmental Division, will be held in an Online Environmental Exhibition “Virtual Japan Pavilion -Innovation for 2050 net-zero-“ provided by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

Date and Time：10 March 2021, Wednesday, 09:00-10:55（UTC +7）

Venue：Virtual Japan Pavilion

Agenda：

Session 1: Overview of current climate transparency related activities in the ASEAN Region

Session 2: Climate transparency related activities towards 2030 in the ASEAN Region

You can find the agenda here.

Presenters and panelists：

Ministry of the Environment (Japan), National Environment Agency (Singapore), Global Support Programme Coordinator, UNDP, Climate Change Secretariat (Singapore), RCC UNFCCC, Business for Sustainable Development (Philippines)

For more details on the Virtual Japan Pavilion, please visit Virtual Japan Pavilion Official Website and Official flyer.

The PaSTI International Workshop will be live-streamed at PaSTI Official Channel.

On December 12th of 2019, Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ), World Resources Institute (WRI), and Overseas Environmental Cooperation Center (OECC) co-organized a side event “Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation in ASEAN - Climate action toward increasing corporate value” at Japan Pavilion, COP25 in Madrid, Spain.

After the opening remarks by Mr. Satoru Morishita, Deputy Minister of MOEJ and Ms. Helen Mountford, Deputy Director of Environment, WRI, a panel discussion was held with the panelists from National Development Planning Agency of Indonesia, National Environment Agency of Singapore, Japanese private company, and the OECC. They shared outputs of PaSTI projects in Indonesia and in the ASEAN region and also discussed the need for further collaboration between the private sector, including small-medium enterprises, and the government, and co-innovation where technologies and know-how are bidirectionally exported between developing and developed countries.

From November 7th to 8th, 2019, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan held an international workshop in Manila, Philippines, jointly with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines.

This workshop was aimed to share the progress of the PaSTI projects currently underway in ASEAN, exchange opinions with the private sector and experts on transparency and MRV (measurement, reporting and verification), and establish networks among participants. Approximately 45 representatives from ASEAN member states, international organizations including UNFCCC, private companies, and research institutions participated.

On February 21st and 22nd, 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand PaSTI held a “Workshop on Capacity Building for ASEAN Member States (AMS) on Facility-Level Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV)” in line with the PaSTI project for ASEAN.

This workshop aims to share the proposed outline of the project with representatives from AMS and to gain insights of prioritized sectors for developing MRV at facility level.