Adoption of the City-to-City Collaboration Toward Zero-Carbon Society Projects in Indonesia, Maldives, and Malaysia

2020.05

  JANUS, Toyama City, and private companies in Toyama City jointly proposed the projects below and were selected by the Japan Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to conduct the “City-to-City Collaboration Toward Zero-Carbon Society Projects in 2020.”

• Indonesia: “City-to-city collaboration project by Toyama City to realize SDGs future city for Bali Province and Semarang, Central Java Province”
•  Maldives: “Support Project for Developing a Sustainable Eco-friendly Smart City: An Intercity Collaboration between Toyama City and Male’ City”
•  Malaysia: “Decarbonized city building project through the construction of a decarbonized transportation system using biofuel and the dissemination of renewable energy”

   The Paris Agreement (effective November 2016) stipulates that central governments, non-governmental players including local governments, and cities will fast-track countermeasures combating climate change. As part of this worldwide effort, local governments will play an important role in developing and implementing projects to tackle regional climate change issues. The goal of MOE’s “City-to-City Collaboration Toward Zero-Carbon Society Projects” is for Japanese local governments to: a) collaborate with Japanese research institutions, private organizations, and universities to promote the use of Japanese decarbonized and low-carbon technologies and services for overseas cities; and b) support other decarbonization activities in order to effectively and efficiently boost activities to create a decarbonized society. This program will support the development of master plans and the evaluation of technology and selection processes in overseas cities, as well as promote capacity-building for decarbonization and low-carbonization by Japanese local governments.

  Toyama City’s policy planning and decision making revolves around sustainable city management based on compact urban development centered on public transportation—resulting in their renown environmentally advanced city status, as an “environmental future city” and “SDGs future city.” In addition, to fulfill SDG goal 17, to strengthen and revitalize global partnerships, the City is collaborating with overseas cities to promote and disseminate environmental technologies and knowledge that housed within the City and companies with Toyama City.

  For this project, JANUS will conduct studies on the applicability of decarbonization technology in five cities within three countries—Indonesia, Maldives, and Malaysia—in cooperation with Toyama City and Toyama companies with excellent decarbonization technology.

  Indonesia：With the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing a JCM Model Project in the province of Bali Province and Semarang City in Central Java, JANUS will examine fuel conversion businesses from diesel to natural gas and the expansion of renewable energy with a focus on solar power generation.


  Maldives：With the goal of converting the Hulhumale area in Greater Male’, to become a “smart” and “compact” environment-friendly city, JANUS will examine low carbon public transport development projects, gas conversion projects for diesel power generation facilities, renewable energy/energy saving diffusion projects, and biogas power generation using organic disposal materials.

  Malaysia：JANUS will examine low-carbon public transportation utilizing biofuels and diffusion of renewable energy centered on small hydroelectric power generation, aiming to achieve compact city development centered on public transportation in Iskandar, Johor, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. JANUS will also consider using bio-gas liquefaction technology that JGC Global Co., Ltd. is looking to develop as a low-carbon public transportation option utilizing biofuels.

  In developing countries with advancing economies, it is apparent that increased urban population is leading to urban problems such as increase in traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and air pollution. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to deploy Japan’s excellent decarbonization/low-carbon technology and policy knowledge and know-how as a total package.

  In collaboration with Toyama City and companies in Toyama City, and utilizing the JGC Group’s technical capabilities, JANUS will accelerate activities toward developing overseas projects using this survey as a springboard and present valuable solutions for global environmental problems.