The Diplomat The Spain Japan Council Foundation will celebrate from this Monday until July 5 the second edition of its Japanese Leaders visitor program, which on this occasion will be dedicated to sustainability and climate change. The first edition, also held in the first week of 2023, was focused on entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem. In this second edition, a delegation made up of five professionals linked to sustainable development will visit Madrid and Barcelona to maintain an agenda of meetings with counterparts from the public and private sectors. Both Japan and Spain have marked 2050 as the point at which their respective economies must have reached carbon neutrality, in a context of intense debate about the actions necessary to stop climate change. “This is a challenge whose success depends on collaboration between various actors: governments, companies, universities and civil society institutions,” highlighted the Spain Japan Council Foundation in a press release. During their stay in Spain, participants will have the opportunity to meet with important sustainable development actors from Madrid and Barcelona. Among other institutions, the Japanese Leaders will visit Iberdrola, Ecoalf, Grupo Tersa, Agbar, La Nave or The Collider. In the program there will also be space for institutional meetings, such as a meeting with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs, Diego Martínez Belío; a reception at the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Spain, Takahiro Nakamae, or a visit to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. Before flying to Spain, they will attend a lunch at the residence of the ambassador in Tokyo, Fidel Sendagorta. Among the participants in the program is Hiroyoshi Iwata, a researcher at the University of Tokyo who currently works at the Institute for Future Initiatives at the University of Tokyo, an institution focused on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals, where he studies climate change and innovation. Another participant is Mizuki Awano, a specialist in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) with more than 15 years of experience in the financial sector, an analyst at Corporate Action Japan (CAJ), an organization that works with Japanese companies to accelerate the transition. towards emissions neutrality, and member of the steering committee of the Japan Sustainable Investment Forum (JSIF) since 2014. Akira Sakano is the founder and director of Zero Waste Japan, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting zero waste policies. She contributed to the creation of Japan's first zero-waste town, Kamikatsu, and is involved in establishing similar policies in several municipalities across the country. He was a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum from 2021 to 2020 and co-chair of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2019. The fourth participant is Kunihiro Shimoji, Chief Operations Officer of EF Polymer, a startup dedicated to the manufacture of hydrogels from waste that increase the yields of agricultural land, and a member of the Global Shapers community of the World Economic Forum, which brings together young people with a notable impact on society. Finally, Tomomi Ishida joined Energy Environment Investment, EEI, a venture capital firm specialized in the energy and environment sectors, in 2023. Tomomi analyzes both domestic and global investments and oversees the development and management of impact strategies. She worked as a strategy consultant at EY Parthenon in London, primarily on projects related to climate technology.
