Organized sessions

Carbon neutrality and avoided emissions

Session overview

Climate change associated with increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has long been a topic of debate, and the 2015 Paris Agreement and SDGs have promoted activities to achieve a decarbonized society worldwide, with Japan also declaring its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Even before that, the industrial sector had been engaged in activities aimed at reducing GHG emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of products, manufacturing, use, and disposal, as so-called by "eco-design," but producing products that reduce GHG emissions at the use stage, such as energy-saving products, often results in increased GHG emissions at the manufacturing stage in many cases. Therefore, there has been a gradual increase in attempts to claim that the product is increasing SCOPE 1 and Scope 2, but decreasing GHGs when the product is used by others. This reduction of GHGs at the stage of use by others is called "Avoided Emission”. In recent years, more and more activities have been conducted to calculate not only the reduction contribution of the "product" but also the reduction contribution of the organization (company) as a whole.

The biggest criticism of the calculation of Avoided Emission is that "Avoided Emission is merely a calculation on the desk”, i.e. “the development of energy-saving products will result in the high sales volumes over those of conventional products (baseline) and will, in effect, increase GHG emissions”.

However, innovative product development that reduces GHG emissions is essential for society to move toward carbon neutrality. Although there are still many issues to be addressed in the calculation of Avoided Emission and its communication, Avoided Emission is expected to play a significant role as a way to support the motivation for technological development.

In this session, reviewing examples of Avoided Emission in Japan and abroad, we will discuss the role of Avoided Emission toward achieving carbon neutrality and how to implement them in the society.

Session organizer

Dr. Atsushi Inaba, Japan Life Cycle Assessment Facilitation Centre

Session date and time

Nov. 1 (Tue.) 13:40-15:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022
Nov. 1 (Tue.) 15:40-17:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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Chemical Industries' Challenge and Contribution for Carbon Neutral and Circular Society with Life Cycle Thinking

Session overview

Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, the world has turned to carbon neutral society. As various efforts are being made toward carbon neutrality from the standpoints of countries, regions, organizations, companies, individuals, etc., the perspectives of "supply chain" and "life cycle" have become more important than ever.

Plastics and other chemical products are effective alternatives for natural resources and absorb the ever-increasing demand for natural resources. The lightness, toughness, corrosion resistance, and other properties that do not exist in other materials have greatly contributed to the reduction of environmental impact at the use stage. On the other hand, since the amount of energy required for manufacturing is large, the amount of greenhouse gas generated is very large, and environmental problems such as marine pollution of waste plastic due to the current improper final treatment are also occurring at the same time. There is an urgent need to take advantage of these positive benefits of artificial materials while reducing their negative impacts on the environment during the manufacturing and final processing stages.

To this end, we are convinced that the design of efficient recycling of resources (carbon circularity) based on life cycle thinking is essential, and that chemical products that have become recyclable resources through this initiative will continue to be indispensable resources even in a future society in which carbon neutral has been realized.

In May 2021, the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) announced "the stance of the chemical industry toward carbon neutrality" aiming to achieve such social growth and GHG reduction at the same time.

Specifically, we are currently working from the following three perspectives.

1. As chemical industry is located upstream of the supply chain, our LCI data is important for downstream partners. Therefore, we will formulate guidelines and prepare LCI data of chemicals used for raw materials.
2. We “Chemical Industry” will propose and disseminate product design and usage scenarios that lead to GHG reduction. By proposing and supplying materials that make this possible, the chemical industry will become a “global solution provider”. Moreover, we will calculate and disseminate the avoided emissions of products.
3. We will develop LCA human resources in the chemical industry through activities 1 and 2.

In this session, we will report and discuss the role of the chemical industry toward carbon neutrality, and also introduce the various LCA efforts of chemical companies.

Session organizer

Dr. Mayumi Hayashi, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd.,
Hitomi Miura, Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd.,

Session date and time

Nov. 1 (Tue.) 8:50-10:30 (Japan Standard Time), 2022
Nov. 1 (Tue.) 13:40-15:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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Doing more with less - transitioning to circular economy through business model innovation

Session overview

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed tremendous changes to our everyday life, and we are ever in need to explore creative strategies and approaches for circular economy. Among the strategies, business model innovation plays a vital role in transforming the current practices into the circular economy. In this session, we will bring together researchers, educators, and practitioners to discuss the recent trends in circular economy research with an interest in business model innovations. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, sustainable consumption and production, sustainable design, consumer lifestyle, behavioral design, platform economy, sharing services, product service system, and policy design.

Session organizer

Dr. Eri Amasawa, The University of Tokyo
Dr. Yusuke Kishita, The University of Tokyo
Dr. Koji Kimita, The University of Tokyo

Session date and time

Oct. 31 (Mon.) 10:50-12:30 (Japan Standard Time), 2022
Oct. 31 (Mon.) 13:40-15:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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Sustainability visualization software and its role toward 2050 net-zero carbon

Session overview

With an ever-growing pressure for businesses to move toward net zero carbon in 2050, demand for sustainability visualization software is rapidly increasing. Historically, LCA and Scope 3 calculations have been limited to a small number of LCA practitioners and a handful of niche software providers. However, the situation has changed significantly since the corona crisis. The conventional LCA software market is combined with the carbon management software market, transforming into a highly competitive market with various software providers increasing, if not every day. The software market roughly consists of two groups: the conventional LCA software catching up with cutting-edge digital technology and the second is the new providers with a more digital technology background but less experience in sustainability.

This session will introduce the efforts of both conventional and new software providers through short presentations and then discuss the current challenges and prospects of sustainability visualization software. The session will cover a wide range of topics from Scope 3 assessment to product carbon footprint, sharing datasets over different networks, data quality, multicriteria and LCA databases. This session aims to deepen the understanding of various stakeholders so humanity can visualize and share unbiased views of its activities and accelerate its road toward sustainable decarbonization.

Session organizer

Koichi Shobatake, TCO2 Co. Ltd.

Session date and time

Nov. 1 (Tue.) 8:50-10:30 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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Development of corporate value and organization well-being

Session overview

Starting with the expansion of the ESG investment market, there has been renewed interest in incorporating non-financial values such as external economies into corporate value. Against this background, examples of corporate initiatives to improve corporate value and organizational well-being, visions related to ESG, and strategy formulation, evaluation, and forecasting technologies, including scenario planning, will be discussed.

Session organizer

Dr. Minako Hara, NTT Space Environment and Energy Laboratories

Session date and time

Nov. 1 (Tue.) 15:40-17:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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Resource Issues towards Carbon-neutral Society

Session overview

Many industries are required to make great efforts toward a carbon-neutral society. However, the various problems related to "resources" are often forgotten behind the efforts. In this session, we will look at the current status and countermeasure technologies towards a carbon-neutral society, and discuss the resource issues potentially hidden behind them from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Session organizer

Dr. Eiji Yamasue, Ritsumeikan Univeristy

Session date and time

Nov. 1 (Tue.) 13:40-15:20 (Japan Standard Time), 2022

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