JRI Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Guangdong Province on Joint Promotion of Energy Saving and Emissions Reduction Industry

The Japan Research Institute, Limited (JRI) has signed a "Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Joint Promotion of the Energy Saving and Emissions Reduction Industry in Guangdong Province" (hereinafter "the Memorandum") with the Guangdong Province Productivity Promotion Center, which is responsible for promoting scientific and technological innovation within the Science and Technology Department of Guangdong Province (People's Republic of China).

China is the world's largest producer of CO2 and needs to pursue energy savings and transform the structure of its industry as a matter of urgency. In November 2009, the Standing Committee　of the State Council announced a target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% of 2005 levels, by 2020. The energy saving market in China was worth ¥650 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow; Japanese companies are also expected to enter the market. Guangdong Province, which was the first in China to adopt a policy of reform and opening up and boasts the highest gross production of any province in China, has high needs and high potential for energy saving, and has great expectations of the energy saving technology and know-how that Japanese companies can provide.

JRI is aiming to encourage Japanese companies to enter the environmental and energy market in China by offering solutions that meet the needs of local governments in China and creating models for cooperation between Japanese and Chinese companies. Since the early 2000s, JRI has been involved in the promotion of energy saving around China. For example, in 2007 JRI supported the launch of an energy saving project at the Okura Garden Hotel in Shanghai which was a project of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and for more than two years has been advising on the creation and promotion of energy systems for China's most advanced eco-city, in Tianjin.

The signing of the Memorandum is a result of the high regard in which JRI's activities in the energy saving sector are held. The Guangdong Province Productivity Promotion Center, with which JRI has signed the Memorandum, will work with Guangdong Province's Science and Technology Department and coordinate with JRI on putting forward proposals to the government sector regarding the creation of systems with a view to the development of energy saving business and promoting the creation of model projects. The plan is to support Guangdong Province's efforts to transform the structure of its industry and achieve a greater emphasis on low-carbon industries by fostering low-carbon industries, centering on the energy saving industry and the ESCO industry *1, by pursuing policy research in the energy saving sector and promoting technology transfer through model projects involving cooperation between Japanese and Chinese companies, etc.

1 ESCO: the abbreviation of ‘Energy Service Company’, a generic name of company and technique which carry out energy saving improvement for facilities to reduce utility bill, concerning energy saving diagnosis, plan, design, procurement, construction, financing, operation management and efficiency verification.

For more information on the content of this report, please contact Gen Arao, the Japan Research Institute, Limited.

E-mail：arao.gen@jri.co.jp