The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has approved the Japan ICT Fund"s (JICT) support decision for expanding CO2 emission management and decarbonization support cloud services in the United States, strategically promoting international competitiveness enhancement of Japanese startups and overseas expansion of climate change countermeasure technologies. This project represents an important international cooperation initiative aiming for US market business expansion of cloud services supporting CO2 emission management and energy efficiency through collaboration between Japanese climate change technology startup AsEne Co., Ltd. and US climate technology company NZero, Inc.
JICT, established in November 2015 as a government-affiliated support organization, aims to comprehensively support overseas expansion of Japanese ICT companies through financial and strategic assistance, contributing to Japan"s sustainable economic growth and international competitiveness improvement. This support decision is positioned as an important strategic initiative for deploying Japan"s excellent environmental technologies and decarbonization solutions in international markets toward achieving the 2050 carbon neutrality goal.
AsEne Co., Ltd. possesses advanced technological capabilities in energy management technology supporting corporate energy consumption reduction and CO2 emission optimization. Through strategic partnership with NZero, Inc., rapid market entry and business expansion utilizing NZero"s existing customer base in the US becomes possible. This collaboration realizes construction of an effective international business development model combining Japan"s technological capabilities with US market access abilities.
The decarbonization cloud service market is rapidly growing due to corporate ESG management strengthening, increased decarbonization demands across entire supply chains, and carbon tax system expansion, with the US market alone expecting multi-trillion-yen scale market expansion. Particularly, comprehensive service demand is expanding for accurate measurement and management of SCOPE 1, 2, and 3 emissions, carbon offset trading support, renewable energy introduction optimization, and energy efficiency improvement proposals.
In international climate change countermeasures, Japan"s advanced technologies and expertise play important roles in achieving NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) based on the Paris Agreement, international coordination of carbon pricing systems, and technology transfer for climate change adaptation measures. Through this project, international standardization promotion of Japan"s decarbonization technologies, global market presence improvement, and international cooperation strengthening in climate change fields are expected.
From a startup support perspective, comprehensive support system construction for funding, technology development, market development, and human resource securing is important for Japanese innovative environmental technology companies to compete and grow in international markets. Through JICT support, Japanese cleantech startups establishing business foundations in overseas markets and achieving sustainable growth is expected to contribute to Japan"s industrial competitiveness strengthening and innovation ecosystem development.
This project functions as an important policy tool closely coordinating with national strategies including Japan"s "Green Growth Strategy," "2050 Carbon Neutrality," and "GX (Green Transformation) Realization," aiming to achieve both decarbonized society realization and economic growth through private company technological innovation and overseas expansion.