T

he United States’ plan to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has prompted criticism and concern about the future of the climate change mitigation campaign, given the fact that the US is the top donor in the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

However, Tomoaki Ishigaki, director of the climate change division with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, downplayed any serious impact, saying that other big donor countries were still around with enough financial resources.

“There is still substantial money to support the projects,” he said.

“We have to mobilize society. Japan cannot tackle climate change on its own,” he added.

The GCF is a fund for supporting the reduction of greenhouse gases and addressing impacts of climate change in developing countries.

Nobuo Tanaka, chairman of the steering committee at the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF), assured other countries’ commitment to the movement.

“[United States President] Trump is giving us a very difficult time predicting but it gives almost no impact because private sectors are still continuing to invest in environmentally friendly technology. Europe is very determined to proceed with CO2 reduction,” he said.

As of January 2016, the GCF fund totaled US$10.26 billion, with the US topping the donor list with $3 billion. Japan was the second-largest donor with $1.5 billion.

With the US withdrawing after realizing $1 billion, Japan is now the top donor.

“We have been providing multilateral and bilateral assistance around the world,” Ishigaki said.

The Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) is another form of cooperation to promote low-carbon technologies as mandated through the ICEF.

Japan has already signed the bilateral documents under the JCM partnership with 17 countries, including Indonesia.

“Japan will provide certain technologies and financial assistance, and in return Japan will get carbon reductions from partner countries,” Ishigaki said.

Financial assistance is managed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through three schemes: loan, grant aid and technical cooperation. “Three schemes of assistance means three messages to our partner countries,” JICA deputy director general Hiroyuki Kobayashi said.

“Aid and loan are financial support for our partner countries for constructing new facilities like power plants and transmission lines, and technical cooperation is capacity support for our partners.

“We always consider the balance between hard aspects and soft aspects. We may make a beautiful program but if people don’t know how to operate it, it will not run properly.”

The increasing demand in energy requires more development in energy-producing projects. However, with the world agreeing to tackle climate change, environmentally friendly technologies are imperative in reducing CO2 emissions.

“How can we solve this problem? This is a very important issue. Japan has the experience [in regards to] technology and know-how. This may be very important in solving this dilemma.

“We will try to support our partner countries by utilizing our experience and expertise because it’s a very difficult situation worldwide.”

JICA funded a pilot study over the Gundih natural gas project in Central Java between 2012 and 2016, utilizing carbon capture and storage technology. Design and construction of the surface facilities is targeted for implementation by the end of 2018.

“We have to think about the future. Maybe one day we can reach zero emissions. It’s difficult but we have to try,” Kobayashi said.