The City of Koriyama

General overview of the city

The city of Koriyama is located in Fukushima prefecture, 240 km away from Tokyo.  Before the 2011 East Japan Earthquake the city had been known as the farming district that sourced water from Lake Inawashiro to irrigate its rice paddies and generate power, where people enjoyed the beer festival in the summer, the cherry blossoms in the spring, and the choir and orchestras in the fall.

Since 2011, the national government has concentrated fiscal resources into cities in Fukushima Prefecture, with Koriyama being one of them.  Good connections to Tokyo by both airborne and land-based travel (bullet train and highways) is allowing the city to reform into a global innovation hub for creative technologies inviting businesses and research institutions both domestic and overseas. 

Sustainability policies

Japanese local climate policies consist of three elements: innovative technology development; changes in lifestyles; or restructuring of energy or transport systems.  In the case of Koriyama, the East Japan earthquake prompted development of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in 2014. AIST is a research facility which promotes renewable energy to enhance local economic growth. One of their findings were to refine hydrogen from local fossil fuel and hydrogens which has led Koriyama to become one of the breeding grounds for hydrogen related experiments and has developed the first series of hydrogen stations for fuel cell vehicles (FCV) in June 2017.  The Fukushima Renewable Energy Agency (FREA) wind farm is now a famous tourist attraction.  The city is strongly promoting research and development in sectors related to renewable energy, medical technology and ICT.  The efforts are hoped to create jobs, expand sales and attract new enterprises.

In December 2017, Koriyama signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Essen (Germany) with which the two cities will learn and develop a sustainable future together.

Supporting Policies

To recover from the damage inflicted by the 2011 nuclear incident, Fukushima Prefecture spends approximately half of the 2017 fiscal budget (0.88 trillion yen of the total 1.72 trillion yen) on creating new enterprises in the areas of renewables, reconstructing systems for provisioning medical care, and recovering jobs.  Koriyama city is a locations for this effort.

Targets

  • CO2 is reduced by 11.5 percent from 2015 levels in 2020.
  • Renewables account for 12.2 percent of the energy mix in 2020.
  • Energy consumption is reduced by 3.2 percent from 2015 levels in 2020.
Basic Data
CountryJapan
PrefectureFukushima
Population334,698
Growth0.0 % (2005 - 2010)
Certified for nurse care (Fukushima Pref)3.7% / 1.6% (2000 /2014)
Area757.2 km2
Nominal GDP228 billion yen
(US$ 1.99 billion)
URLwww.city.koriyama.fukushima.jp

SDG 11 indicators found in Koriyama’s policies

Adequate housing policiesPublic transport promotionCivil society participation in urban planningPolicies to reduce solid wasteBetter air quality policiesDisaster risk  reduction policies

Note: 〇 policies exist, N/A policies do not exist 

written by the IUC-J Secretariat