Hokkaido Shimbun Press, “脱炭素社会へ世界に貢献 「北海道・札幌宣言」を発表 Ｇ７環境相会合” April 16th, 2023
When Sapporo hosted “the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment” in April 2023, the Hokkaido-Sapporo Declaration was launched in order to become Japan’s green power house to lead carbon-free society.
The declaration states that Hokkaido
- introduces renewal energy as much as possible and attracts the production & research bases
- installs Submarine Direct Current (DC) transmission line between Hokkaido and Honshu, the mainland Japan
- supplies renewal energy generated from offshore wind power
In order to accelerate the utilization of renewal energy, Hokkaido is
- promoting the launch of semiconductor factories, such as Rapidus Corp. and data centers
- attracting green finance from all over the world
Over 200 billion Euro of Green Finance in Hokkaido
Another breaking news from Hokkaido is the launch of a consortium named “Team Sapporo-Hokkaido” co-established by corporates, academia, public sectors and financial institutions :
Academia & Corporate members
- Hokkaido University（北海道大学）
- Hokkaido Economic Federation（北海道経済連合会）
- The Federation of Hokkaido Chamber of Commerce and Industry（北海道商工会議所連合会）
- Hokkaido Electric Power Company（北海道電力）
- HOKKAIDO GAS CO., LTD.（北海道ガス）
- Sapporo Stock Exchange（札幌証券取引所）
Public sectors
- City of Sapporo（札幌市）
- Hokkaido Government（北海道）
- Financial Services Agency（金融庁）
- Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry（経済産業省）
- Ministry of the Environment（環境省）
- Hokkaido Local Finance Bureau（北海道財務局）
- METI Hokkaido（北海道経済産業局）
- Ministry of the Environment Hokkaido（北海道地方環境事務所）
Financial institutions
- North Pacific Bank（北洋銀行）
- Hokuhoku Financial Group, Inc.（ほくほくフィナンシャルグループ）
- MUFG Bank（三菱UFJ銀行）
- Mizuho Bank（みずほ銀行）
- Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation（三井住友銀行）
- Development Bank of Japan（日本政策投資銀行）
- Japan Green Investment Corp. for Carbon Neutrality / JICN（脱炭素化支援機構）
The consortium set six missions:
- Collecting GX (Green Transformation) finance information and establishing a method to share it
- Launching funds and finances based on the growth of businesses
- Relaxation of regulations in order to accelerate green finance
- Training talents with knowledge of Green Finance
- Effective marketing to attract global investment
Through this initiative “Team Sapporo-Hokkaido” is planning to attract over 20 billion Euro (30–40 trillion JPY) within the next 10 years.
Photo by Tunafish on Unsplash
Hokkaido has a potential for the transition to renewal energy such as wind power and solar power with its scale of the available natural resources.
The mayor of City of Sapporo, Mr. Akimoto mentioned
“The critical part is creating an environment to attract investment from all over the world. As “Team Sapporo-Hokkaido” we unite together in order to be a financial center in Asia and in the world.”
The governor of Hokkaido, Mr. Naomichi Suzuki stated
“We will utilize the potential of Hokkaido to lead renewal energy industry in Japan, and accelerate the innovative business development and investment toward Sapporo and Hokkaido.”
According to Bloomberg NEF, the total decarbonation-related investment in the world in 2022 was 1 trillion Euro (125 trillion JPY), and the amount was doubled within the past 3 years.
The Government of Japan is also planning to accumulate 150 trillion JPY (1 trillion Euro) within the next 10 years to foster green transformation.
How can Hokkaido be the leading center to foster green transformation?