Program

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Monday, September 5

Tuesday, September 6

Wednesday, September 7

Thursday, September 8

Friday, September 9

September 5 (Monday)

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09:00-09:20

Registration

09:20-09:30

Opening remarks

Tatsuya KAWADA (Dean, Professor, GSES, Tohoku University, Japan)

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• Opening Remarks (mp4)

09:30-10:30

Guest Speaker 1

1. Mark Z. JACOBSON (Professor, Stanford University, USA)

"A Solution to Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Insecurity for 145 Countries"

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• Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. This talk discusses the development of technical and economic roadmaps to convert the energy infrastructures of 145 countries, including Japan, to those powered by 100% wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) for all purposes after energy efficiency measures have been accounted for. All purposes includes electricity, transportation, building heating/cooling, and industry. The talk further discusses the electricity and heat generation technologies and the electricity, heat, cold, and hydrogen storage technologies needed and their current status. It also discusses methods of keeping the electric power grid stable. Results indicate the grid can remain stable at low cost in each of 24 world regions encompassing these 145 countries. Aside from mitigating global warming, these roadmaps have the potential to eliminate seven million air pollution deaths annually, stabilize energy prices, reduce catastrophic risk, and reduce international conflict over energy. The talk also discusses what individuals can do in their own lives and homes to help solve the problems. Please see https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/WWS-145-Countries.html for more information.

10:40-11:40

Panel discussion and Open discussion with Prof. Jacobson

13:00-13:30

Group work 1 with Prof. Hara

13:30-15:00

Guest speaker 2

Keishiro HARA (Professor, Osaka University, Japan)

"Future Design"

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• One of the fundamental challenges of sustainability issues lies in intergenerational conflicts. because unborn generations have neither a say nor way to negotiate with the current generation, any decisions made under current social systems are inclined to the interests of the current generation, resulting in various long-term issues, such as climate change and resources depletion. This lecture will introduce the research field "Future Design'' that aims to design social systems to incorporate the preferences of future generations into the decision-making of present and to reconcile intergenerational conflicts towards sustainability. In addition to theoretical background and motivation, examples of Future Design practices at public and industrial sectors will be introduced. Along with the lecture, short exercises (group works) will also be planned to provide participating students with an opportunity to experience the perspectives of "Imaginary Future Generations'' so that the students can deepen the understanding of Future Design.

15:00-16:00

Group work 2 with Prof. Hara

September 6 (Tuesday)

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1-day field work to Higashi-Matsushima city, site visit of diaster-recovered area and smart town

September 7 (Wednesday)

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Free work day, co-research meeting, etc.

September 8 (Thursday)

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09:00-10:30

Guest speaker 3

Makoto SUWA (Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank Group, USA)

"How to Better Manage Climate Risks in Developing Countries?"

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• This session will discuss climate and disaster risks developing countries are facing in recent years, how they are tackling the challenges and how international partners like the World Bank are supporting such efforts. The presentation will also discuss potential career paths to work on issues such as climate and disaster risk management with international organizations. The presentation will be followed by a round table discussion among participants to exchange ideas and thoughts on what would be priority climate actions for our generation and how things can be done better and differently. A small group exercise and presentation are planned at the end of the session and active participation of the participants is expected.

10:30-12:00

Discussion with Dr. Suwa

13:00-14:30

Guest speaker 4

Andrew John CHAPMAN (Associate Professor, Kyushu University, Japan)

"Achieving a Just Transition: Energy System Design and Social Equity"

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• Nations around the world are dealing with the issue of achieving a low-carbon energy transition. This has ramifications for the design of their energy systems, such that energy needs and carbon reductions can be met. In addition to these issues is the issue of a 'just transition', i.e., a transition which not only satisfies energy needs and carbon targets, but also engenders a 'fair' energy system. A just transition requires that issues such as employment, convenience and social equity are also maintained during the energy transition. This lecture deals with this issue from a theoretical viewpoint, and also introduces recent research in Japan and the US toward clarifying how well people understand the concept of a just transition and what stakeholders anticipate from the energy transition. Issues covered include social equity, culture, knowledge, preferences and lived experience relevant to the energy transition.

September 9 (Friday)

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09:00-10:30

Guest speaker 5

Anthony HALOG (Lecturer, The University of Queensland, Australia)

"Holonic Thinking for Transitioning to Net Zero Emission, Circular Economy in Post-COVID Era: Its Vital Role in Training the Next Generation of Researchers, Policy Makers, and Business Leaders"

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• This lecture discusses how students and participants from different academic backgrounds must alter their mindsets from reductionist/myopic/mechanistic thinking to systems, holonic, cross-disciplinary, and transdisciplinary thinking for strategic sustainability transition and effective implementation of UNSDGs and achieving their targets by 2030. It will explore how we can optimally train the next generation of economists, scientists, engineers, health professionals, policymakers, and business leaders to holistically address the sustainable development challenges and become resilient in our leadership development practices. It is expected that the lecture will be of benefit to faculty and students of Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, International and Cultural Studies, Disaster Science, and Environmental Studies. The lecture aims to inspire all participants from different disciplines and countries to network and work synergistically to pursue future avenues of collaboration and academic exchanges.

10:30-12:30

Guest speaker 6

Katsunori IHA (Research Economist, Global Footprint Network, USA; Board of Directors, Ecological Footprint Japan, Japan)

"Introduction of Ecological Footprint: It's Concept, Calculation, and Application"

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• The Ecological Footprint is an accounting tool that makes the reality of ecological limits understandable and useful to governments, businesses, and the general public. Footprint accounting compares a population's demand on ecological resources and services with nature's ability to renew them. In doing so, it helps to measure and communicate a variety of important concepts surrounding sustainability and enables stakeholders to assess the state of ecological assets and measure progress towards sustainable economic performance.
  This presentation is for people with a technical/quantitative background, researchers working on projects related to Ecological Footprint, climate change, land use change and human appropriation of natural resources as well as those working on environmental indicators and statistics in general. Those with some background in Ecological Footprint concepts who are primarily interested in the application and communication of the Ecological Footprint method will also benefit from the course.
  I would recommend the students explore following website to familiarize themselves with the concept.
  1. Global Footprint Network website
  2. Personal Footprint Calculator: How many planets do we need if everybody lives like you?
  3. Ecological Footprint Japan website (Japanese)
  

14:30-16:00

Guest speaker 7

Xianlai ZENG (Associate Professor, Tsinghua University, China)

"Win-Win: Anthropogenic Circularity for Metal Criticality and Carbon Neutrality"

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• Resource depletion and environmental degradation have fueled a burgeoning discipline of anthropogenic circularity since the 2010s. It generally consists of waste reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and recovery. Circular economy and "zero-waste" cities are sweeping the globe in their current practices to address the world's grand concerns linked to resources, the environment, and industry. Meanwhile, metal criticality and carbon neutrality, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, denote the material's feature and state, respectively. The goal of this article is to determine how circularity, criticality, and neutrality are related. Upscale anthropogenic circularity has the potential to expand the metal supply and, as a result, reduce metal criticality. China barely accomplished 15% of its potential emission reduction by recycling iron, copper, and aluminum. Anthropogenic circularity has a lot of room to achieve a win-win objective, which is to reduce metal criticality while also achieving carbon neutrality in a near closed-loop cycle. Major barriers or challenges for conducting anthropogenic circularity are deriving from the inadequacy of life-cycle insight governance and the emergence of anthropogenic circularity discipline. Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment are the central methodologies to identify the hidden problems. Mineral processing and smelting, as well as end-of-life management, are indicated as critical priority areas for enhancing anthropogenic circularity.

16:00-16:10

Closing remarks

Masanobu KAMITAKAHARA (IELP-WG Head, Professor, GSES, Tohoku University, Japan)

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