Dec 15, 2017 at Waseda Neo, COREDO Nihombashi
Yet again, The RIEEM conducted a big event, Carbon Pricing Symposium titled “Paris Agreement and International Trends of Carbon Pricing – Towards the Japanese Long Term Goal of Emission Reduction” on December 15, 2017 at Waseda Neo, COREDO Nihombashi. The symposium was attended by more than a hundred general citizens with various backgroundｓ.
The session started with opening remarks by Director Tomokazu Ayukawa (Officer of Ministry of the Environment) and Prof. Tetsuo Kato (Director of Research Council, Waseda University). Prof. Toshi H. Arimura (Director of RIEEM) presented brief background of the institute, ongoing projects and future plans.
In keynote speech, we had two guest speakers, Prof. Jian Zhou of Tsinghua University of China and Prof. David Brown of the Alberta University, Canada. Prof. Zhou presented on “Role of Carbon Market Policy in China” highlighting the on-going initiatives in China including some of the challenges and areas for future improvement. Then, Prof. Brown presented on “Carbon Pricing Policy in Canada: Achieving 2030 Emissions Targets” providing the overview of the current carbon reduction initiatives in Canada and challenges of such initiatives.
After a short break, we had three presentations by members of RIEEM about their ongoing projects. First, Prof. Toshi H. Arimura presented the ex-post analysis of impact of Tokyo ETS on commercial buildings and perspectives on the carbon leakage. Then, Prof. Shigeru Matsumoto of Aoyama Gakuin University presented about the trend of households’ energy consumption in Japan for past decades. Finally, Prof. Shiro Takeda presented about the impact of CO2 regulation and possible impact on GDP.
The last session was a Panel Discussion. The panelists are Prof. Emeritus Kanemi Ban of Osaka University, Prof. Matsumoto, Profesor Takeda, Prof. Zhou and Prof. Brown. After a short speech given by Prof. Ban on Japanese climate policy and his research, the panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Arimura to discuss ETS and carbon tax policies among Japan, China and Canada. We also had a lively discussion and exchange with general audiences. This also gave opportunities to the audiences to clarify pressing issues related to carbon pricing, as well as to the presenters to understand the perspectives of the general public. Finally, the symposium ended with closing remarks by Prof. Ayu Washizu of Waseda University.
