13 December 2012, Tsukuba, Japan – The Low Carbon Asia Research Network (LoCARNet) In-Depth Meeting on Strategic Action Plan was organized by the LoCARNet secretariat on 13 December 2012 at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) in Tsukuba, Japan. The meeting was financially supported by APN as a networking activity under its Low Carbon Initiative (LCI).

The meeting was attended by over 15 LoCARNet members, who are experts on modelling work from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam; also in attendance were representatives from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ), a donor of the LoCARNet, represented by Mr. Hiroshi Tsujihara, the APN, represented by Dr. Akio Takemoto, and the LoCARNet Secretariat, represented by Dr. Shuzo Nishioka.

The objective of the meeting was to further develop the Strategic Action Plan of LoCARNet for the period between fiscal years 2012 and 2014 as the first phase and beyond 2014 in longer term. The Strategic Action Plan contains the following elements: membership, term of the plan, prioritized activities (low carbon research, capacity building, etc.), the steering group, the secretariat, fundraising, and the way forward.

During the meeting, there were intensive discussions among participants on the above topics related to the Strategic Action Plan. It was announced that the 2nd Annual Meeting of LoCARNet will be held in July 2013 in Yokohama Japan. Participants agreed to further develop the Strategic Action Plan towards the 2nd Annual Meeting.