Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko
Time to Act Forum_1
Hydrogen Energy Conference for action
Time to Act Forum_2
SusHiTechTokyo 2024
TOKYO, JAPAN, November 6, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko is traveling abroad for United Nations-led conferences on climate change and sustainable urban development to demonstrate her administration’s initiatives in tackling these pressing global challenges.
From November 6 to 14, she will visit Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Azerbaijan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) says. It is her first official overseas tour since her re-election to a third term in July.
“I want to spread information on Tokyo’s innovative measures and so on,” Governor Koike told a news conference about her participation on November 12-13 in the UN COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“It is extremely important to take action on decarbonization … to curb global warming,” she said. “The key is the diffusion of hydrogen energy and renewable energies. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has already been strongly promoting it.”
During the overseas travel, she will also attend the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum on November 7-8 in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, and visit Abu Dhabi on November 9-11 for talks with local government officials and a tour of the UAE capital, according to a TMG press release.
“No Time to Waste”
Just a few weeks prior to COP29, the TMG organized two warm-up forums on climate change in Tokyo. At these meetings, leaders from local authorities around the world and international organizations vowed to take the lead in promoting hydrogen energy and accelerating actions toward decarbonization.
“There is no time to waste in addressing the climate crisis,” Ms. Koike, a former member of parliament, who was first elected as Tokyo’s first female governor in 2016, told the Hydrogen Energy Conference for Action (HENCA) on October 22, citing “unprecedented heavy rains and life-threatening extreme heat.”
The World Urban Forum is a global conference on sustainable urbanization established by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in 2001. In Cairo, Ms. Koike, once an environment minister in national government, is also scheduled to meet key Egyptian officials.
In the UAE capital, Governor Koike will aim to further strengthen ties between Tokyo and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the press release says. The two local governments signed an agreement last year on city-to-city cooperation in digital transformation, climate crisis mitigation, urban planning and other areas.
At COP29 - short for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Ms. Koike will emphasize the “importance of the role played by cities” to fight the climate crisis, the press release says.
Climate Talks in Fossil Fuel Fields
“It is quite an interesting fact that a conference on climate change itself is held in oil-producing or gas-producing countries,” Ms. Koike told the news conference.
COP summits have taken place for two straight years in regions rich in fossil fuels. Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic located between Eastern Europe and West Asia, has long thrived on petroleum production. Last year’s COP28 was hosted by Dubai, a premier city in the oil-rich UAE.
In 2023, the Tokyo governor also took part in the climate summit. Addressing a COP28 session of city leaders from around the world, Ms. Koike introduced a future vision to use thin, film-type “Next Generation Solar Cells” that enable power generation in various settings.
She also presented Tokyo’s plan to promote efforts to establish a “hydrogen exchange” for ensuring the supply of zero-emission “green hydrogen.” Her administration is developing a base for producing green hydrogen. Other than that, it will oblige new houses to be equipped with solar panels beginning next April as well.
The upcoming COP 29 is expected to focus on finance as high-income nations prepare to present a new goal of their financial commitments to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change impact. The developed nations also need to submit stronger climate action targets.
On the other hand, the World Urban Forum in Cairo will explore “the way cities should be run,“ said Ms. Koike, who governs the capital city of 14 million. Tokyo is also the core of the world’s largest metropolitan area with 35 million people.
“We want to share the knowledge of other countries and cities … about disaster countermeasures, various transportation situations, climate change responses and others,” she said.
The UN-Habitat meeting is bringing together representatives of international organizations, national, regional and local governments as well as a variety of other entities. The forum’s website cites “unaffordable housing, rising living costs, climate change, the lack of basic services and ongoing conflicts,” as some of the challenges facing people.
Tokyo Hosts Warm-Up Conferences Ahead of COP29
The two climate-crisis forums hosted by Tokyo in late October may have given Ms. Koike a big COP29 head start as the participants committed themselves to building a global supply chain of hydrogen and encouraging cities around the world to take action against climate change.
The Hydrogen Energy Conference for Action (HENCA) on October 22 brought on stage a global panel of 12 urban leaders and academic and corporate experts - including Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
https://henca-tokyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/
In a joint statement, they reaffirmed that “we would accelerate the social implementation of hydrogen energy and take the lead in the international community from both environmental and economic perspectives as trailblazers in energy transition.”
On October 24, the other annual Tokyo-hosted event TIME TO ACT Climate Action, fourth in a series, also featured a panel discussion among seven speakers, including a video message from Kuala Lumpur Mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
https://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/time-to-act-climate-action
The participants vowed in a joint message to “promptly achieve the decarbonization of cities by collaborating with other cities and various stakeholders.” They also said they would seek to leverage the “knowledge of startups” and “next-generation technologies” and to accelerate “efforts for renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government staged a premier startup and tech event, SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024, short for Sustainable High City Tech Tokyo 2024, in April and May. It featured a month-long technology-driven showcase program, as well as a summit of the leaders of 45 cities from around the world, and brought together more than 40,000 participants to the Global Startup Program, one of Asia's largest innovation conferences.
https://www.sushi-tech-tokyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/2025/en/index.html
The next edition of SusHi Tech Tokyo is set for May 8-10, 2025.
https://sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/
Itinerary:
November 6 (Wed): Departs from Tokyo
November 7 (Thu): Arrives in Cairo, Egypt Attends the 12th World Urban Forum
November 8 (Fri): Attends the 12th World Urban Forum
November 9 (Sat): Departs from Cairo Arrives in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates
November 10 (Sun): Meetings, inspections, etc.
November 11 (Mon): Meetings, inspections, etc. Departs from Abu Dhabi Arrives in Baku, Azerbaijan
November 12 (Tue): Attends COP29
November 13 (Wed): Attends COP29 Departs from Baku
November 14 (Thu): Arrives in Tokyo
Eddy Oda
Director for International PR Strategic PR Div.
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