Supporting the “Eco-Island Initiative” of Ishigaki City in Okinawa Prefecture through a strategic partnership with Taiwanese company Gogoro

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Description

Intro

We could start the project thanks to obtaining the support from Ishigaki city after we showed our support will for Ishigaki City's the “Eco-Island Initiative”. And Ishigaki City is also located between Japan and Taiwan, where Taiwanese company Gogoro is headquartered. We also agreed with Ishigaki's wish to become a bridge between Japan and Taiwan.e-share Ishigaki was established with 100% investment by Sumitomo Corporation.

Objective of the practice

[Purpose]*Support for Ishigaki City's "Creating islands for sustainable development by creating new value".An official of the Ishigaki municipal government said, "Taking into consideration the preservation of beautiful nature and living and economic activities on remote islands, we will promote the use of solar and other energy sources by promoting the use of renewable energy sources available in local communities, etc. They are aiming to create an eco-island that coexists with the environment"considering the balance of "conservation of the environment", "people's life" and "development of local industries". *While continuing to promote the tourism industry that supports Ishigaki Island, it may also destroy its environmental resources because of the increase of tourists. Thus, it is necessary to simultaneously try to solve two social problems. *Through the realization of the Ishigaki Island Eco-Island Project, the project aims to establish a self-supporting business model by developing and using the local decentralized energy management system. [significance]The following challenges Ishigaki Island is facing to are also common challenges for another area, city in Japan as a whole (especially a tourist spot). First of all, Ishigaki City will work with the private sector and local government to realize to develop sustainable island. And we believe this will lead to development in other regions in the future. 1. "Destruction of the natural environment" due to increasing exhaust gas from automobiles resulting from an increase in rental cars 2. "Traffic congestion" and "Shortage of parking space" in the tourist areas due to an increase in the number of tourists 3. The need for "Traffic service for inbound" to facilitate the movement of foreign visitors to Japan 4. Increasing social needs for "regional mobility" due to the emergence of an aging society

Partners

*Key Stakeholders Tourism resources and Ishigaki Island residents *Partnership "Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture", "Gogoro", and "local companies" *In September 2017, we entered into a strategic partnership with Gogoro whose mission is transforming mega-cities in the world into smart-cities. After that, e-share Ishigaki was established by Sumitomo Corporation.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

The project has been implemented by sharing roles with partners as follows.*Local government (Ishigaki-city) 1) Support for the entire business through cooperation with local business partners, 2) Securing of installation sites for solar power equipment and GoStations (charging facility), 3) Introduction of photovoltaic power generation systems *Sumitomo Corporation 1) Collection and utilization of tourist movement data, 2) Installation and operation of GoStations, and introduction of Gogoro scooters *Gogogro 1) Product Delivery 2) Remote Maintenance Management

Results/Outputs/Impacts

*CO2 reduction It depends on the number of scooters so it's difficult to say for sure. However, if 100 EV scooters are used for about 180 days a year, CO2 emissions will be reduced by nearly 100 tons as estimated. *Smooth start of service and use by tourists It's easy to change the battery in the charging station (GoStation). All you have to do is put two batteries unplugged from scooter into empty charging station slot and attach two batteries that come out automatically from GoStation to the scooter. *In an emergency, the charging station can be used as a backup power supply charging and infrastructure network as BCP functions. In the future, it can be also used for other small vehicles. *Gogoro is receiving favorable reputation on not only the design of scooters, but the challenging goal to solve social issues such as "environmental pollution caused by increased traffic" and "regional development" in tourist spots. Besides, Gogoro's unique energy platform using rechargeable batteries have been also praised.

Enabling factors and constraints

*Unlike Southeast Asian countries, Japanese are not familiar with scooters, but the number of user is increasing because the scooters are compact and convenient as the vehicle for sightseeing spots in addition to the good design as it received "Good Design Award". *With regard to the battery replacement method, there are some disadvantages pointed out in terms of high cost such as one of the site for the installation, the hardware of the GoStation itself, and the extra battery that is not in operation. However, the user advantage outweighs the stated disadvantage in terms of being freed from two problems: the long charging time and the short cruising distance per a charge.

Sustainability and replicability

*The following challenges that Ishigaki Island faces are common challenges that are also faced by Japan and other Asian tourist spot. First of all, the city of Ishigaki will work with the private sector and local governments to realize sustainable development as a self-sustaining city. In the future, it will lead to development in other regions such as Asia. *Especially in Southeast Asian countries, scooters have a large presence in daily life, and we think the Ishigaki-model will be possible to expand horizontally.

Conclusions

*Power of Partnership We try to make synergy by combining Sumitomo Corporation Group's "broad business foundations in the automotive field and global network" and Gogoro's "innovative business model, sustainable energy network infrastructure, and track-record of overseas development". And we keep pursuing the creation of not only "economic value" but also "social value" and "environmental value" as follows. [Economic Value]• E-mobility sharing• Utilization of finance• Big Data analysis• EV and battery recycling [Social Value] • Publicity in Japan and　overseas・Increase in tourism, including inbound tourist• Increase in employment and incomes• Increase in tax revenues for central and local government• Creation of disaster-resilient infrastructure [Environmental Value]• Introduction and consumption of renewable energy• Introduction of zero-emissions electro mobility (e-mobility)• EV and battery recycling

Other sources of information

*e-share Ishigaki Company Profile (HP) https://www.ridegoshare.jp/company/#menu6 *Sumitomo Corporation Integration Report Page 62 https://www.sumitomocorp.com/-/media/Files/hq/ir/report/investors-guide… *Press release　(Sep, 2017）「SUMITOMO CORPORATION AND GOGORO ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP; UNVEIL NEW GOSHARE™ SMARTSCOOTER SHARING SERVICE LAUNCHING THIS YEAR IN JAPAN」 https://www.sumitomocorp.com/en/jp/news/release/2017/group/20170928_1 「Collaborating to Transform Ishigaki Island into an Eco-island」https://www.sumitomocorp.com/en/jp/news/release/2017/group/20170928_2

SDGS & Targets