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Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) 2023 Announces

Program of ICEF2023 is Now Available
Hybrid event with in person sessions at Hotel New Otani Tokyo and online sessions
(Japanese-English simultaneous interpretation is available.)

Innovation for Cool Earth Forum 10th Annual Meeting.
Registration for participation is now being accepted.
Dates: October 4 (Wed.) – October 5 (Thurs.), 2023
Venue: Hotel New Otani Tokyo (hybrid event with online sessions)
Deadline for in person registration: September 26 (Tues.), 2023, 17:00 (Japan time)
Click here to register: https://www.icef.go.jp/register/

The Government of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan (NEDO) will hold the 10th Annual Meeting of the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF2023) over a 2-day period from Wednesday, October 4 to Thursday, October 5. This year’s meeting will be held as a hybrid event, with in-person sessions at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo and online sessions via the internet. ICEF is an international forum where leaders of industry, academia and government from around the world gather in one location for discussions with the aim of encouraging innovation, which is the key to measures to address the challenge of global warming. Participants from all countries are invited to attend.

■Main Theme
Innovation for Just, Secure and Sustainable Global Green Transformation (GX)
This year’s ICEF2023 meeting marks the 10th Anniversary of this annual event, and is also part of “Tokyo GX Week,” an intensive series of international conferences on energy- and environment-related issues with the aim of realizing GX (Green Transformation). As the world continues to confront various difficulties, ICEF2023 will focus on “innovation,” which is necessary for progress toward achieving carbon neutrality. Based on a shared recognition that “Diversity is the origin of innovation,” we will strive to deepen discussions by various nations and regions, technical experts and other stakeholders, and on reaching this 10-year milestone, we will look back on the accomplishments of the ICEF to date, and will discuss anew what should be done going forward.

■Program
The program and speakers will be announced as available. For details, please check the ICEF official website:
https://www.icef.go.jp/program/

○Plenary Session1 “Innovative Policy Making”
Soaring energy prices and the emergence of geopolitical risks have made national governments be aware of the importance of energy security. Consequently, major economies are promoting polies to increase the introduction of renewable energies and to diversify the energy supply portfolios.
This session will discuss challenges and opportunities for the innovative policy making at domestic and international levels as well as the potentials of cross-border cooperation for achieving green transition. Moreover, the ways to build secure supply chains of energy and resources in the current geopolitical situation will be explored.

○Plenary Session2 “GX Together”
Green Transformation (GX) with everyone together (Just Transition) is the key to sustainability and climate equity, and it’s necessary to carry out a global transition with this concept in mind.
This session will discuss ways for realizing inclusive transition by considering all nations regardless of the degree of economic development as well as all industries regardless of their carbon intensity. By creating the world that appropriately benefit the most disadvantaged and workers in the fossil fuel industry, and so forth, it will lead to climate equity and economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

○Concurrent Session 1 “Global Stocktake”
Global Stocktaking, stipulated in Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, is a mechanism to assess the progress of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The work began at COP26 in 2021, collecting information on each country's progress. A report at COP28 will follow three technical dialogues.
During ICEF 2023, just two months before the Global Stocktake report at COP28, we will present the discussions, scientific assessments, and recommendations from technical dialogues and discuss how to accelerate our actions

○Concurrent Session2 “Food, Water and Climate Change”
The World Food Program (WFP) points out that after steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise, affecting nearly 10% of people globally. The scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is enormous, with more than 345 million people facing high levels of food insecurity in 2023 – more than double the number in 2020.  This constitutes a staggering rise of 200 million people compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.  Of those, more than 900,000 people worldwide are fighting to survive in “catastrophic hunger”, i.e. one step away from famine. This is ten times more than five years ago, an alarmingly rapid increase. Movement towards precision agriculture, making best use of the new biology, remote sensing technologies and ICT, and deploying the new possibilities of AI, open enormous avenues for transforming this dire situation.  Wiser policies and more effective practices at both local and regional scales should have great impacts on water and soil resources and on agricultural productivity.   
This session will discuss sustainable agriculture and food security in relation to water, soil, and needed adaptation and resilience measures in relation to climate change. The session will also consider these questions from the standpoints of innovative technologies including start-ups, public initiatives at local and regional level, and global governance/international cooperation.

○Concurrent Session 3 “Innovative Use of Renewables”
The massive deployment of renewable energy is key to achieving carbon neutrality. The share of renewables in global electricity generation has increased rapidly. Technologies to harness renewable energy have been successfully scaled up to unlock their potential. Innovative advancements have been seen in offshore wind power, which will allow the production of renewable power on a massive scale. Yet, some regions face challenges in increasing renewable energy deployment.
This session will discuss these barriers that are often include land restriction, social acceptance, environmental conflict, and lack of funding.

○Concurrent Session 4 “Sustainable Aviation”
In 2019, before the Corona pandemic, GHG emissions from the global air transport sector were 1.2 Gt, accounting for more than 2% of total GHG emissions. Decarbonizing air transportation has been recognized as a Hard to Abate sector. The aviation industry has been working on GHG emission measures, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is the most developed and economically feasible today.
In this Concurrent Session, we will learn the latest SAF market outlook and the technological development in alternative fuels from industry experts.

○Concurrent Session 5 “Nuclear Fusion Technology”
The importance of nuclear energy is being re-evaluated in response to the global trend toward a decarbonized society. ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), started in the 2000s in the framework of international cooperation, is an experimental reactor for establishing and sustaining fusion reaction technology. In this session, we will collect and share information on development of the fusion reactor, with mainly focus on new technologies and challenges to commercialization by start-up companies.

○Other Events
-ICEF Roadmap Project
-Conversation with Young-generation Innovators
-Special Session with Prof. Smil
-NEDO Project-related session
-Co-hosted event by Bloomberg
-Co-hosted event by UNIDO

Information on interviews about ICEF2023 : https://bit.ly/3qZPf7t

[Contact for inquiries from readers, viewers and the press regarding this event]
ICEF2023 Secretariat (Public Relations, First Co., Ltd.)
e-mail：icef2023-media@mail.obo.bz