COP31 will open on 9 November. At a summit in Tokyo, specific examples and challenges were shared on how Japanese companies and local governments can integrate climate change, natural capital and the circular use of resources into their operations. Discussion is also expanding around the local use of renewable energy and the quantification of financial impacts.
COP31 opened on 9 November, and warnings were issued that the Earth's resilience is declining, based on a UNEP report and the results of the Planetary Health Check. The role of non-state actors beyond the climate change framework was emphasised in international dialogue.
石井菜穂子 (Ishii Naoko) of the University of Tokyo pointed out the need to advance transformations in 4 systems simultaneously: energy, cities, production and consumption, and food. Integrated assessment models indicate that an energy-only transition cannot return the planet to a safe operating space, making it important to combine it with transformations in food systems and resource circulation.
As an example of how disasters are changing the significance of renewable energy, 球磨村森電力 prioritised evacuation shelters when introducing solar power and battery storage. NTT DATA also indicated that it does not view AI and decarbonisation as mutually exclusive, raising the renewable energy share of its data centers from 54% in fiscal 2023 to 71% in fiscal 2025.
Regarding links between production regions and businesses, KIRIN HOLDINGS began operating a Regenerative Tea Scorecard in December 2024 in cooperation with the Rainforest Alliance. While promoting sustainability in tea-producing regions and watershed conservation, the company acknowledged the difficulty of assessing nature and indicated its intention to make these factors more visible.
On translating financial risks, TSUMURA emphasised that much of its herbal medicine raw material depends on procurement and production activities outside the company. Nippon Life stressed the importance of quantifying natural risks such as heatstroke, typhoons and floods, calculated outlooks for 2050 and 2100, and called for more comprehensive disclosure.