ICEF 2023 Statementfrom the Steering Committee
October 5, 2023

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I. ICEF’s 10th Anniversary
The 2023 Innovation for Cool Earth Forum or ICEF celebrates its 10thanniversary. Taking this memorable opportunity, the Steering
Committee is issuing the following special statement, looking back at
the journey travelled collectively in the past nine years and looking
forward to the next decade.

21. What we have achieved since the ICEF
inaugural annual meeting in 2014
⚫ In 2014, ICEF was initiated by Japan’s late former Prime Minister AbeShinzo, who “proposed the establishment of a new international
conference where the world’s leading policy makers,
businesspersons, and researchers can meet and cooperate with eachother to address climate change through innovation”. He participatedin the first annual meeting, which, he stated, was “an unprecedentedattempt, an energy- and environment-focused version of the World
Economic Forum.”⚫ One of the early achievements of ICEF was helping shape the Paris
Agreement, by highlighting the importance of innovation in thenegotiations that led to the success of COP21 in 2015.

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1. What we have achieved since the ICEFinaugural annual meeting in 2014
⚫ In 2016, ICEF championed the ambitious goal of achieving “at least
net-zero anthropogenic CO2 emissions.” Since then, ICEF’scontinuous advocacy for this goal has contributed to many countries,
sub-national entities and companies pledging to achieve net-zeroemissions around the mid-century.
⚫ Since its inception, ICEF’s consistent message has been thatinnovation, both technological and social, is essential to addressing
climate change. With this belief in mind, ICEF has elaborated on theroles of both the public and private sectors. International cooperation
has also become a central theme.
⚫ Since 2017, ICEF’s strong creed has been that diversity, inclusivenessand justice must be enhanced to address the social and governanceaspects of climate change. At ICEF conferences, a balanced
participation including youth and women has been realized and led to4
multi-faceted discussions.

1. What we have achieved since the ICEF
inaugural annual meeting in 2014
⚫ ICEF has consistently adopted a technology-neutral approach todecarbonization, including discussion of renewables, sustainable
nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, and new end-use
technologies across all sectors.
⚫ ICEF’s contributions also include the development of innovation
roadmaps for clean energy technologies. Roadmaps on carbon
utilization, direct air capture, carbon mineralization and low-carbon
ammonia, among other topics, have helped inform a wide range ofstakeholders about technologies that can help achieve net zeroemissions. The term "biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS)"
was first proposed in an ICEF roadmap and is now used widely.

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1. What we have achieved since the ICEF
inaugural annual meeting in 2014
⚫ ICEF has been a unique forum for a wide range of stakeholders tointeract and advocate for innovation in addressing climate change. InJapan, ICEF has attracted a series of other relevant international
conferences on its margin, now culminating as the “Tokyo GX Week.”⚫ As ICEF has evolved over the past nine years, the global situation
surrounding climate change has significantly changed. After theadoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, the IPCC Special Report on
1.5°C in 2018 created further momentum for countries and regions
to commit to net-zero around the mid-century. We have witnessed
massive deployment of new technologies, most notably withrenewables and electric vehicles. However a huge gap remains
between countries’ Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs) andthe 1.5°C pathway. Accelerated progress is needed to fill this gap.
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2. What we need to advance the greentransformation (GX)
⚫ Under Japan’s presidency this year, the G7 leaders in Hiroshimaagreed to “globally advance and promote a green transformation,
working together to realize transformation of our economies”.
Obviously agreement among the G7 is not necessarily a global
consensus, but green transformation or GX is our common challenge
and shared opportunity.

⚫ The G7 leaders are “commit(ted) to holistically addressing energy
security, the climate crisis, and geopolitical risks.” They also said,“While acknowledging various pathways according to each country’s
energy situation, industrial and social structures and geographicalconditions, we highlight that these should lead to our common goalof net-zero by 2050.” Such statements show the basic and shareddirections for us to pursue GX.
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2. What we need to advance the green
transformation (GX)
⚫ To increase energy security and reduce the risk of adverse
environmental impacts from the energy transition, it is imperative toexpand and diversify supply chains for clean energy technologies andfind substitutes for critical minerals.
⚫ Efforts by developed economies alone are far from sufficient.
Strengthening North-South international cooperation on topics
including transfer of technologies and climate finance is essential.

83. Towards the future⚫ ICEF’s fundamental role and mission remain unchanged. We remain firmly
committed to promoting both technological and social innovation whilestrengthening diversity and inclusiveness. In the years ahead, our efforts
will be enhanced. As AR6 of IPCC pointed out, the choices and actions inthis decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years to come.
More urgently than ever, we need to accelerate scaling of solutions totackle the climate crisis in this critical decade.
⚫ ICEF embraces new focal challenges, including accelerating deploymentof the solutions available today and continuing to innovate approaches forreducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing carbon dioxide fromthe atmosphere. In doing so, ICEF underscores the importance of not only
country perspectives but also sectoral thinking, particularly on hard-toabate sectors. In addition, sustainable finance deserves stronger focus.
The financial community needs to be engaged more in scaling up
deployment of clean energy technologies.
93. Towards the future⚫ ICEF is dedicated to developing new, diverse and secure supply chains forcritical materials, energy technologies and manufacturing.
⚫ ICEF pays particular attention to increasing the scale and improving theeffectiveness of North-South collaboration to help the Global South thrivein the energy transition and manage inevitable climate impacts.
⚫ ICEF continues to empower the next generation of innovators to succeed
in bringing new solutions to fruition by supporting those innovators tointeract directly with global leaders, access resources and reach newmarkets.

10Ⅱ. ICEF2023
Under the main theme of “Innovation for Just, Secure and Sustainable
Global Green Transformation (GX)”, the ICEF’s tenth annual meeting(ICEF2023) was convened in a hybrid format on October 4 and 5, 2023 as
an initiative of the "Tokyo GX Week" , when a series of 10 conferences
discussed a wide range of energy and environmental issues. Around
1,700 people from governments, international organizations, industry,
and academia participated in this event, representing 79 countries andregions. At the conclusion of ICEF2023, the Steering Committee
summarizes a series of discussions as follows.

11Ⅱ. ICEF2023⚫ ICEF2023 had in-depth discussions on innovative policy-making forbuilding secure and resilient supply chains of energy and resources.
The need for cross-border cooperation was identified and theinterface of policy, technology, finance and innovation was discussed.
⚫ ICEF2023 also discussed “GX together” where GX is pursued
inclusively with no one left behind. Just transition was discussed fromregional and socio-economic perspectives, and the role of public andprivate blended financing mechanisms were elaborated.

12Ⅱ. ICEF2023⚫ Leading experts dealt with the following five specific issues:➢ First, the Global Stocktake, a process to inform the Parties to UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change in updating and enhancing
their NDCs every five years under the Paris Agreement. The first
Global Stocktake will soon culminate at COP 28. ICEF2023 provided
an excellent opportunity to collect the views of the private sector andNGOs.
➢ Second, linkages between food, water, energy, and climate change.
Sustainable agriculture and food security in relation to water and soil,
as well as adaptation and resilience measures needed for addressing
climate change, were discussed.

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Ⅱ. ICEF2023➢ Third, the innovative and inclusive use of renewables. Topics
included how maximize benefits and minimize negative impacts on
local communities, environments and ecosystems through synergies
and co-benefits with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Therole of developing economies was emphasized.
➢ Fourth, sustainable aviation. Topics included forecasting sustainableaviation fuel (SAF) supply beyond 2050, identifying alternatives foraviation fuels and opportunities for improving propulsion system suchas hydrogen electric powertrain.
➢ Fifth, nuclear fusion technology. Recent trends, including the role ofstartups and university spin-offs in developing promisingtechnologies and attracting investment, were discussed.
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Ⅱ. ICEF2023⚫ The ICEF Steering Committee expresses our deepest appreciation for
the active participation of speakers and audience at ICEF 2023 and at
the previous nine meetings. We remain firmly committed to engaging
diverse stakeholders, in particular leading youth, women andinnovators, and thereby creating stronger momentum fortechnological and social innovation for a carbon-neutral andsustainable future.

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