Kyohei Takahashi

Chairman

Best wishes for the New Year to our readers!

The year 2012 was a difficult year for the chemical industry in Japan. Among many difficulties, it is most regrettable that many accidents continued occurring at our chemical plants.

At the time I became JCIA chairman, I commented that we should aim to ensure “full citizenship” of the chemical industry. It is obvious that industrial and occupational safety is an essential prerequisite to our pursuit of such “full citizenship”. If we fail to ensure the safety, not only the firms that caused the accidents but also the whole industry could lose the trust of society. I therefore urge everyone in the chemical industry to renew their safety efforts.

Now I would like to bring up two nice topics of last year.

First, Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University won the Nobel Prize in medicine for 2012. This demonstrates the high level of scientific researches in Japan.

As part of its New LRI (Long-range Research Initiative), the JCIA is supporting researches for evaluation of the safety of chemical substances using embryonic stem (ES) cells, which preceded the development of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The iPS cell technology can be applied not only to regenerative medicine but also to various applications related to the chemical industry, including safety evaluation of chemical substances. I therefore have high expectations for the development of the technology.

The second topic is that the JCIA won a prize for its carbon-Life Cycle Analysis (c-LCA) program. The prize was presented by the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan, and recognized c-LCA as the greatest accomplishment in the field of LCA in 2012. Under c-LCA, volumes of CO2 emissions from final products that fully utilize chemical products and those from conventional products over their entire life cycles are compared. This method demonstrates to what extent chemical products and technologies serve the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions and contribute toward preventing global warming.

The prize was given in recognition of the JCIA’s publication of brochures explaining examples of c-LCA, establishment of rules for the calculation of the degree of contribution to the reduction in CO2 emissions, and publication of brochures outlining precautions for implementation. We will hereafter work to spread the c-LCA concept to other industries on a global scale.

Although the Japanese chemical industry seems to continue to face “not an easy” situation this year, with the start of the New Year, I would like to encourage you to take a more positive view.

This year, new administrations of the United States, China, Japan and South Korea are going to introduce their new economic measures. Thus, I am hopeful that the economy will steadily recover this year.

In China, in particular, inventories started decreasing in September last year after rapid accumulation of inventories in the first half of the year. Exports from China started showing signs of recovery in and after the fall of last year. Furthermore, the new Chinese Government is expected to take effective measures, including investments in infrastructure, stimulating measures for personal consumption, and promotion of exports.

In Japan, Prime Minister Abe has declared that the mission of his new government is to “overcome the crisis.” Out of many problems relating to the rehabilitation of Japan, Mr. Abe is emphasizing the need to encourage economic growth. When a large-scale supplementary budget is executed and progress is made in monetary relaxation by the Bank of Japan, they will support the economy and help improve business performances of Japanese companies. We hope the Government and the BOJ will effectively and quickly carry out these measures.

Representing the Japanese chemical industry, we would like to make the following requests to the government:

First, the energy issue. The Innovative Energy & Environment Strategy prepared by the previous government last year involves many contradictions. We strongly request that the strategy should be reviewed fundamentally, and that a more realistic energy policy should be established based on the concept of “S plus 3Es,” namely, safety, energy security, economic efficiency, and environment.

Next, in addition to improving the situation of so-called “six-fold difficulties” concerning Japan’s international competitiveness, we request that the Government should positively take measures to open the country, including the participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other economic partnership agreements. This is because Japan should become an attractive partner for foreign countries and a good place for investment in order to realize economic growth.

Despite the severe environment, the chemical industry should serve as a “mother industry” providing customers with high-performance new materials and new process technologies, and as a “solution provider” supporting the world’s sustainable development. In other words, it is the role of the chemical industry to support economic growth.

I sincerely hope this year will prove to be a turning point for further advance of the Japanese chemical industry, and also a good year for everybody.