Climate Change

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP19), and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA6), as well as the 61st session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation, were held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11th to November 24th (2 days extension) and Decisions/Conclusions were adopted. Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Services Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Forestry Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and related organizations participated in the conferences.
Decisions on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP), and the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) were adopted as the Baku Climate Unity Pact. In addition, decisions regarding Article 6 of the Paris Agreement were adopted.

• New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG): The decision to set the support goal of “at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties” was adopted. This includes support by multilateral development banks and contributions from developing country Parties. It was also decided to call on all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
• Mitigation: In the “Mitigation Work Programme”, negotiations were held based on the discussions at the global dialogues held in 2024 on the topic “Cities: buildings and urban systems”. Noting the actionable solutions, as presented in the annual report of the dialogue, the Parties decided on the manner for the next round of the dialogue while encouraging voluntary initiatives in the light of different national circumstances.
• Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: The details of the items and forms of authorization and reporting by governments of the Parties required for parties to cooperate in implementing measures and distributing emission reductions consistent with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, interoperability between the registries used to record emission reductions were decided.
  In addition to the negotiations on the agenda, several events based on COP and CMA decisions were also held.
  Furthermore, during the meeting period, Japan exchanged opinions regarding climate change with several related the Parties and organizations and held discussions on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) with the aim of developing implementation rules and expanding partner countries.

In the NCQG decision, it was decided to set a goal with developed country Parties taking the lead, of at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties for climate action. This includes support by multilateral development banks and contributions from developing country Parties. It was also decided to call on all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
Japan believes that the NCQG should reflect the reality of today’s global economy and be an achievable goal. To this end, Japan has been actively engaged in negotiations with other countries at various levels under the leadership of Minister of the Environment, Keiichiro ASAO. Japan welcomes the adoption of the NCQG agreed by all Parties, including Japan, as a result of negotiation.

In the ‘Mitigation Work Programme’, negotiations were held based on the discussions at the global dialogues held in 2024 on the topic “Cities: buildings and urban systems”. Noting the actionable solutions as presented in the annual report of the dialogue (e.g. enhancing collaboration between cities, subnational authorities, local communities and national Governments), the Parties decided on the manner for the next round of the dialogue while encouraging voluntary initiatives in the light of different national circumstances.

The full operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement was realized, under which emission reduction and removal measures, conducted through voluntary cooperation, are implemented in consistency with Article 6. The details of the items and forms of authorization and reporting by governments of the Parties required for the distribution of credits for the amount of emission reductions and removals, and the connectivity between the registries used for recording and reporting credits were decided. Japan also contributed to the adoption by making specific proposals on items for authorization and reporting, interoperability between registries. Furthermore, technical discussions were held on the operation of the non-market approach web platform and future work activity plans, and future implementation issues were decided.

On adaptation, a work programme on indicators for measuring progress achieved towards the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was discussed. Aiming for completion of this work at CMA 7, additional guidance for experts related to the work programme and others were decided. Furthermore, the Baku Adaptation Road Map was launched, including Baku high-level dialogue on adaptation.

Discussions were held on the annual report and review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, however no consensus was reached and the consideration will be continued at SB62.

On the UAE dialogue on implementing the global stocktake (GST) outcomes, the Parties did not reach a consensus on the scope of the dialogue, etc., and consideration will be continued at the SB session in preparation for CMA7. On procedural and logistical elements of the overall global stocktake process, an informal note was prepared with the options advocated by each Party regarding the scope and timelines, etc., and will continue to be considered at the next session. With regard to the annual GST dialogue held at SB60 on June 2024 to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and good practices on how the outcomes of the GST are informing the preparation of the Parties’ next NDC, the consideration of details for the adoption of its report, such as messages for the preparation of the next NDC, will continue to be considered at the next session.

A decision was made to extend the enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender for a period of ten years. It was also acknowledged that some progress had been made in addressing gender and climate change, while the need to further strengthen implementation was recognised.

Mandated events and discussions were held on a wide range of agenda items, including agriculture, research and systematic observation, ETF Reporting Tools, Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), response measures, capacity-building, technology transfer, actions for climate empowerment and administration, financial and institutional matters. Decisions were adopted at several discussions.

At the ministerial session on November 20th, Minister of the Environment Asao delivered a national statement. He stated that (i) regarding climate finance, Japan pledged USD 70 billion of public and private support for actions to deal with climate change in developing countries over the five years until 2025, and Japan is steadily working to achieve this goal; (ii) regarding adaptation and loss & damage, Japan is working on the “Initiative to Promote the Development of Early Warning Systems through Public-Private Partnerships in the Asia-Pacific Region”, to deal with loss and damage; and (iii) regarding mitigation, Japan calls on all the Parties to set economy-wide emission reduction targets, including all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories that are consistent with the 1.5 degree goal, and based on the latest science, and is continuing its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with its current NDC, and net zero by 2050.
In addition, Minister Asao announced the “Cooperative Actions for NDC Implementation and Transparency Enhancement”, which has three pillars: (i) “Synergy Approach” among net zero, circular economy and nature positivity; (ii) “Expanding Mitigation through Market Mechanisms such as JCM; and (iii) “Enhancing Global Transparency on Mitigation” in collaboration with Azerbaijan’s initiative, the Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP).

Minister Asao held bilateral meetings and had brief informal talks with the ministers and representatives from approximately 20 Parties and regions such as Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, the UK, Azerbaijan, Singapore, Ukraine, EU, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and the US as well as UN Secretary-General António Guterres. During each meeting, the Minister not only had discussions for adoption of negotiation agendas such as climate finance and mitigation but also exchanged views on each bilateral environmental cooperation.

Minister Asao participated in the ministerial meeting “QURULTAY” convened by the Presidency, along with several ministerial consultations with negotiation groups and the Presidency. The Minister greatly contributed to the COP29 decisions by actively explaining Japan’s position on climate finance, mitigation, and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Japan set up the Japan Pavilion at the COP29 venue where Japanese companies and institutions presented their measures on renewable and energy efficiency, adaptation, effective CO2 utilization and satellite data utilization through exhibitions, panel displays, and online exhibitions of their technology.
In addition, as Japan’s first initiative, Minister Asao announced the “Cooperative Actions for NDC Implementation and Transparency Enhancement” at the Pavilion. Similarly, Japanese government’s efforts were introduced as the Pavilion held nearly 40 seminars such as Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT), Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) partner countries meeting, Climate Information Disclosures in Asia, Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), Climate Resilient Debt Clause (CRDC), transition finance, avoided emissions, and industrial decarbonization and Japanese Government officials participated in over 30 events on other occasions. The Japan Pavilion was a great success and more than 100 countries came to the Japan Pavilion. We actively promoted our decarbonized technology to the whole world.

The Government of Japan participated in the following international initiatives on climate change at COP29:

• Nov 12: “Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap to further accelerate the reduction of methane emissions associated with fossil energy production and consumption” led by EU
• Nov 15: “Hydrogen Declaration” led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 18: "Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP)" led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 19: "COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste “ led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 19: “Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers“ led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 20: "COP29 Declaration on Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) to Resilient and Healthy Cities “ led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 20: "COP29 Declaration on Enhanced Action in Tourism" led by Azerbaijan
• Nov 21: "COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action" led by Azerbaijan to launch the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action which will be administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

• Nov 11: "Earth Information Day 2024”
• Nov 12: "In-session workshop under Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement - GCNMA 6”
• Nov 13: “High-Level Event: Advancing the Effort to Triple Nuclear Energy”
• Nov 15: "Global Methane Pledge Ministerial"
• Nov 15: “Ministerial on Carbon Management”