UTokyoNY Event “DECARBONIZATION PATHWAY TOWARDS 2050” Held | The University of Tokyo New York Office

The Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) is also engaged in activities aimed at finding the optimal path toward carbon neutrality in 2050 from an academic and neutral standpoint. In order to make these activities widely known, a public workshop, “DECARBONIZATION PATHWAY TOWARDS 2050” was held on June 13 in New York, USA, as a joint event with the University of Tokyo New York Office (UTokyoNY). The workshop introduced the activities of RCAST to accelerate energy transitions and discussed pathways toward decarbonization from both perspectives of Japan and the U.S.

Dr. Masakazu Sugiyama, Director and Professor, delivers the keynote speech

In the workshop, Prof. Masakazu Sugiyama, Director of RCAST gave a keynote speech on energy transitions toward carbon neutrality and the direction of technological development, introducing a step-by-step approach and RCAST’s efforts to achieve this goal.

As the invited speaker, Naohito Sato, Deputy Consul-General and Director of Economic Division, Consulate General of Japan in New York, introduced Japan’s policy toward carbon neutrality.

Invited speech by Naohito Sato, Deputy Consul-General, Director of Economic Division

The panel discussion, moderated by the Director and Professor Masakazu Sugiyama, focused on the status and challenges of technological development toward decarbonization in Japan and the U.S., and its relationship with geopolitics.

The panelists are Jane Nakano, Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change program, at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), one of the world’s leading public policy institutions on energy, foreign policy and national security issues; Mika Takagi, Director General, NEDO Washington D.C. Office, who has extensive knowledge on Japan’s energy technology development; and Prof. Tatsuoki Kono, Director of the division of Global Security and Energy Transition (GSET) in RCAST.

Panel discussion From left to right, Masakazu Sugiyama, Mika Takagi, Jane Nakano and Tatsuoki Kono

More than 20 participants, mostly New York residents or workers, gathered on the day for a wide-ranging exchange of opinions, including a networking reception on the current status and future prospects for Japan and the U.S. efforts toward decarbonization.