Officials from the U.S. and Japan recently met for the second Japan-U.S. Clean Energy Partnership (JUCEP) plenary meeting to establish their shared climate priorities for 2022 as well as review their achievements in 2021.
JUCEP, created in April 2021, is focused on supporting clean energy initiatives, particularly in the Indo-Pacific Region, a White House press release said. The partnership was created in light of the countries’ shared goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
“JUCEP supports the vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) by advancing open, competitive, and transparent energy markets indispensable to a clean, secure, and sustainable energy supply,” a State Department press release said.
Last year, the partnership reached out to hundreds of energy firms about renewable energy and grid modernization investment opportunities, the State Department release said. Through its efforts, JUCEP advanced capacity cooperation for “small modular reactor nuclear energy, quality infrastructure, global procurement, power grid development, and critical mineral mining sector governance.”
JUCEP plans to continue similar efforts in 2022, holding several presentations at the meeting on how the partnership can provide participating projects with increased tools and capabilities in the coming years, the State Department release said. Presentations included topics such as expanding the private sector’s finance options and risk insurance, holding a public-private JUCEP Trilateral Commercial Forum early this year and highlighting the benefits provided by accelerating renewable energy projects in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The United States and Japan will align official international financing with the global achievement of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050 and deep emission reductions in the 2020s, and will work to promote the flow of public and private capital toward climate-aligned investments and away from high-carbon investments,” the White House release said.
The U.S. Department of State and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry were the two agencies leading the meeting, the State Department release said. It included representatives of several agencies from both countries.
The U.S. was represented by the State Department; Department of Commerce; Department of Energy; Department of Treasury; Trade and Development Agency; the Agency for International Development; Development Finance Corp. and Export Import Bank officials, the release said.
Representing Japan were the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance presenters, the release said. Also at the meeting was Japan’s Bank for International Cooperation; External Trade Organization; International Cooperation Agency; Ministry of Finance; the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization and officials from the Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.
