Comprehensive activities

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.

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.