Results of the Eighth Environmental Policy Dialogue held by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and the Asian Development Bank

1. The Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Japan, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) on environmental cooperation in June 2014 and have held annual environmental policy dialogues since then.
 
2. MOE Japan and ADB held the eighth Environmental Policy Dialogue virtually on July 21, 2022. Based on the LoI, both parties shared their progress to date on major activities and discussed future cooperation.
 
■ Background
MOE Japan and the ADB have held annual environmental policy dialogues since the conclusion of the LoI on environmental cooperation in June 2014. The eighth Environmental Policy Dialogue was held virtually to review the progress in the 11 areas of the Work Program on Cooperation for Environment updated in FY2020 and discussed future cooperation.
 
■ Date and time
  July 21, 2022, 14:00-16:30 (JST)
 
■ Venue
  Online meeting
 
■ Key participants:
(Asian Development Bank)
Mr. Woochong UM, Managing Director General and Officer-in-Charge, Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development
Ms. Xiaohong YANG, Chief Thematic Officer and Officer-in-Charge, Director General Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department
Mr. Qingfeng ZHANG, Chief of Rural Development and Food Security Thematic Group concurrently Chief of Environment Thematic Group, Thematic Advisory Service Cluster
 
(Ministry of the Environment, Japan)
 ONO Hiroshi, Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs
 NISHIKAWA Junko, Director for Sustainable Infrastructure, and others
 
■ Main points of discussion
The parties confirmed the following:
(I) both parties will cooperate to further promote the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM)
(II) the parties will work on the expansion of cooperation toward the renewal of the LoI next year
(III) the ADB will cooperate with MOE Japan in the G7 presidency of Japan next year
 
In addition, both parties reviewed the progress in the 11 areas of cooperation in the Work Program on Cooperation for Environment between MOE Japan and ADB in 2020 – 2022, as agreed at the sixth policy dialogue two years ago, shared planned activities, and reached agreement to promote further cooperation in the respective areas. The eighth policy dialogue particularly focused on the following five areas:
(i) JFJCM and International Carbon Market
(ii) Environmentally Sustainable Transportation (EST)
(iii) Biodiversity
(iv) Air Quality Management
(v) Circular economy, Waste Management and Marine Plastic Litter
 
 
 (i) JFJCM and International Carbon Market

1. The parties agreed to accelerate the development of projects utilizing the JFJCM.
2. They agreed to cooperate toward developing and disseminating knowledge to assess co-benefits of projects supported by JFJCM in sustainable development.
3. They confirmed that they will advance cooperation toward building international partnerships for promoting the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (market mechanisms).

 
(ii) Environmentally Sustainable Transportation (EST)

1. The parties agreed to cooperate toward hosting the next EST Forum.
2. They confirmed that they will promote cooperation toward implementing the “Aichi 2030 Declaration,” adopted at the EST Forum last year.

 
(iii) Biodiversity

1. The parties agreed to deepen their collaboration to promote the SATOYAMA Initiative.
2. They agreed to further cooperate for promoting the nature-positive investment/economy.

 
(iv) Air Quality Management

1. The parties agreed to cooperate on promoting low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring in Asian countries as part of the new scheme under the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) (the new scheme refers to a project fund agreed at the EANET Intergovernmental Meeting last year).
2. They agreed to co-host knowledge-sharing events as part of the ADB’s Asia Clean Blue Sky Program.

 
(v) Circular economy, Waste Management and Marine Plastic Litter Management

1. The parties agreed to further strengthen cooperation for promoting the implementation of waste-to-energy projects with a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
2. They confirmed they would continue cooperation on G20 reports on marine plastic litter management as well as to collaborate in negotiations at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to end plastic pollution.

 
In addition, MOE Japan and the ADB shared their recent initiatives and items of interest and discussed possible ideas of cooperation.