At the TBZW conferences, Cabinet ministers from various countries, experts and leaders in various fields discussed wide-ranging topics, including specific issues that should be addressed to achieve the goal of beyond zero and the ways available to get there. They also discussed priority areas that Japan is making efforts in ahead of the rest of the world, including hydrogen and ammonia fuels and carbon recycling, as well as themes that transcend the boundaries of science, including green growth, finance and innovation. TBZW is aimed at contributing to achieving carbon neutrality for the world as a whole by serving as a platform for stimulating international discussions and cooperation, and sharing Japan’s technological know-how with other countries.

This article focuses on the International Conference on Fuel Ammonia,and Research and Development 20 for Clean Energy Technologies, or RD20, two of the eight conferences held as part of TBZW.

Ammonia as a zero-emission fuel

As climate change looms large as an urgent issue for humanity, ammonia is attracting fresh interest as a zero-emission fuel that does not give off carbon dioxide when burned.

This type of fuel has been given high priority in Japan’s strategy for carbon neutrality. METI has decided to spend about ¥70 billion on developing technologies that will enable the stable supply of ammonia power. The goal is to perfect such a technology by 2030 and to begin operating ammonia power plants by the 2040s.

Using ammonia as a fuel requires ensuring it can be stably supplied. An urgent task is to establish an international supply chain for fuel ammonia and bolster it on both the demand and supply sides.

This was what led METI to decide to hold the International Conference on Fuel Ammonia for the first time as part of TBZW. The conference featured speeches by speakers from Japan and seven other countries, and a launch event of the International Energy Agency’s first analytic report on ammonia power, “The Role of Low-Carbon Fuels in Clean Energy Transitions of the Power Sector.” In an effort to run a concrete project, a memorandum of cooperation on a project to introduce ammonia co-firing in Malaysia’s power plants was signed between Japanese and Malaysian companies.

A key achievement of this year’s conference was that the participants came to the understanding that it is important for countries producing fuel ammonia and those consuming it to work together to build a structure for production, supply and transfer technologies. Another important piece of the puzzle is a consensus to adopt a joint strategic initiative between public- and private-sector entities aimed at creating value chains that can produce stable, low-cost supplies of fuel ammonia.

METI aims to drive efforts to achieve a realistic energy transition and decarbonization process for the entire world by introducing measures to support wider use of ammonia.

Long-term strategy

On the back of such a move, many national governments have accelerated their efforts, and a wide range of players, including corporations, investors and financial institutions, have expanded their engagement by shoring up their environmental, social and governance investments to achieve the goal of decarbonization in dealing with the global issue of climate change.

Japan revised its energy strategy, formulating the Strategic Energy Plan in July 2018. In anticipation of the implementation of the Paris accord, the government is set to work on energy transformation and decarbonization within a long-term time frame ending in 2050.

Obviously, there are several possible scenarios in achieving the goal of decarbonization. The government seeks to develop the transformative environmental innovation strategy based on a “virtuous cycle of environment and growth” raised in the “Long-term Strategy under the Paris Agreement” in June. Taking the initiative, the country pledged to invest ¥30 trillion in the energy and environmental field over the next 10 years.

Governments across the world have sought their own optimal energy system in line with each country’s situation. Japan believes that it’s essential to pursue the achievement of decarbonization and its energy policy under the aforementioned 3E+S philosophy.

Launch of strategic ties

The International Energy Agency (IEA) concluded its two-day ministerial meeting in Paris in December, adopting a joint communique. The gist of the meeting can be summarized in the following three points — energy security, establishment of the sustainable energy system and strengthening cooperation with the IEA’s association countries.

The IEA is made up of 30 member countries. In addition, the IEA also works to open doors for emerging countries; the IEA family includes eight association countries.

On enhancing energy security, the ministers reaffirmed the importance of the IEA’s obligation regarding emergency oil stocks for member countries in light of recent supply disruptions. They requested the organization’s secretariat to facilitate close collaboration with association countries in addition to the IEA’s further contribution to strengthening security of natural gas and electricity.

As for establishing a sustainable energy system, the ministers expressed their expectations that the IEA continues to play a central role based on the idea of “exploring the contributions of all fuels and technologies.” In this regard, they agreed to further enhance the organization’s role for innovation in the global transition to cleaner energy, energy efficiency and renewables.

Regarding the reinforcement of ties with association countries, the 30 member nations approved the launch of a new strategic partnership with India — an association country — that would enable its future membership.

The IEA has long enhanced cooperation with nonmember states, mainly emerging countries in Asia that are seeing a rapid rise in energy consumption. With the establishment of this strategic partnership, the international body seeks to secure global energy security through imposing the same “obligations” as member countries on other nations within the partnership; holding emergency oil stocks and coordinated stock release are two examples.

Currently, about 40 percent of the global energy demand belongs to IEA member countries, but the ratio would rise to around 70 percent if nonmember states such as India, China and Indonesia were to join the international entity. The energy demand of India and countries in Southeast Asia in particular is projected to rise steadily. To meet demand, the countries would likely have no choice but to turn to fossil fuel — especially oil imports — which would surely see growing dependence on such imports.