Last week Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, used his first address to parliament to commit Japan to a 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target. Japan also began last month to revise its mid-term energy policy targets, meaning policy settings in the near-term will need to change to reflect the new net-zero target. In this event two eminent academics from Japan will discuss the near-term implications of Japan’s net-zero target for energy policy, and what modeling suggest needs to happen for Japan to reach the 2050 target.

Speakers:

Yukari Takamura Yukari Takamura specialises in international law and environmental law. Her research focuses on legal and governance issues surrounding environmental agreements. She serves as member of the Science Council of Japan, Central Environmental Council, and Procurement Price Calculation Committee for Feed-in Tariff Scheme for Renewable Energy. She also served as one of 10 experts in the expert meeting established under the Prime Minister to develop Japan’s long-term strategy for decarbonisation. In addition to a long-time collaboration with UNEP, she serves as member of the Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development for the Asian Development Bank.

Masa Sugiyama Masahiro Sugiyama is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), the University of Tokyo (UTokyo). He holds a Ph.D. in climate science and a master’s degree in technology and policy, both from MIT. Prior to joining UTokyo, he was a researcher at the Socio-Economic Research Center, the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry. He joined UTokyo in April, 2014. An expert on global warming, he has worked on various topics related to climate change, ranging from energy efficiency in global scenarios to citizens’ views on climate geoengineering. His works have been published in various academic journals, including Nature.

Moderator:

Llewelyn Hughes Llewelyn Hughes is Associate Dean for Research at the College of Asia & the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU), and Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Masters’ in Law from the University of Tokyo. His research focuses on how governments balance the goal of creating competitive advantage through green industry policies with the need to respond effectively to climate change.

This event is convened by the Centre for Climate and Energy Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy.

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