Octobre 14, 2022
On 12 October 2022, we held the first ISCC Event “Opportunities of Sustainability Certification in Japan” with more than 280 participants. A huge thank you to all attendees and speakers!
The meeting started with welcoming words from ISCC Managing Director Andreas Feige and Co-Host Takuya Kobayachi from ITOCHU. Andreas Feige pointed out that credible sustainability certification for circular and bio-based feedstocks and products will become increasingly important in Japan, the fourth largest chemical industry in the world, which is why ISCC PLUS certification is expected to remain the key driver for positive business development in Japan. ISCC will focus on expanding the cooperation with regional certification bodies to meet the demand of system users, and further accelerate growth.
The first session of the meeting discussed the energy market in Japan. Established by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Japan FIT aims to achieve a low-carbon society. It creates incentives for the generation of renewable electricity and provides subsidies for the procurement of palm oil, palm kernel shells (PKS) and palm trunks. ISCC is recognized by METI for the latter two feedstocks, while the recognition for palm oil is pending. Juliane Pohl from ISCC explained the ISCC FIT certification system in detail, and Kenichiro Yanagida from Kamisu Power Plant pointed to ISCC’s excellent reputation, long-standing cooperation with Malaysian and Indonesian palm suppliers, conformity with EU standards, and wide range of certifications in the biofuel sector.
The second session was dedicated to the emerging market for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in Japan. Thomas Bock from ISCC announced that, as part of a project commissioned by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau, ISCC will help prepare Japanese SAF producers for CORSIA certification. Sami Jauhiainen from Neste emphasized the need for policy support to create demand certainty for investments in a growing SAF market, as regulations in Asia are still in the early stages.
During the last session the circular economy and bioeconomy was discussed. Hidenori Mauyama from ITOCHU spoke about the Japanese government’s plan to combat global warming, highlighting that the amount of bioplastics is expected to double by 2030. Inna Knelsen and Jasmin Brinkmann from ISCC gave detailed presentations on ISCC PLUS, the benefits of the mass balance approach, and its requirements for credible communication, the ISCC licensing system, on-product logos and claims. Hiroshi Yuruzeme of Futamura Chemical highlighted the importance of mass balancing as it allows flexibility in responding to different consumer needs and Mesbah Sabur from Circularise presented the challenges and opportunities of a blockchain solution. Claudia Bulgheroni from ClimatePal, a recently founded company for the certification of carbon credits, spoke about carbon offsetting and carbon credits certification, introducing the company and its simple, fast, and user-friendly certification process.
The event was concluded with an interesting Q&A session. Many thanks to all participants and speakers for their participation and fruitful discussions!