The Paris Agreement—the normative foundation that the international community agreed upon to help guide global decarbonisation by mid-century— was adopted at COP21 in 2015 and entered into force in 2016. Currently international negotiations are continuing under the UNFCCC process to operationalise the Agreement including developing and adopting a detailed implementation of guidelines (also known as the “Paris Rulebook”) at COP24, in December this year. With COP24 rapidly approaching, a variety of different options have been put on the negotiating table.
Against this background, this session aims to introduce the most updated information pertaining to international negotiations and examine potential proposals on important elements of the Rulebook to be adopted at COP24. The session will start with a short framing presentation followed by presentations from IGES researchers on selected items of the Paris Agreement. The presentation topics will include transparency, nationally determined contributions (NDCs), market mechanisms, finance and the global stocktake, since rules for those particular elements have substantial implications for domestic
policies and business strategies. After a short, moderated discussion between presenters, the session will open the floor for an interactive exchange of views with the audience.
Principal Policy Researcher, IGES / CEO, PEAR Carbon Offset Initiative, Ltd.
Naoki Matsuo
Principal Policy Researcher, IGES / CEO, PEAR Carbon Offset Initiative, Ltd.
Naoki Matsuo received his Ph.D. from Osaka University’s Post Graduate School of Science. He has been affiliated with IGES since 1998, at which time, just following adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, he was involved in providing a number of key policy proposals regarding the rule-making of the Kyoto Protocol. This included work supporting IGES’s engagement in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme design process resulted to get approval of the first approved CDM methodology. He returned to IGES in 2017, where he currently focuses on examining areas for contributing to the rule making process of the Paris Agreement.
A climate change and energy expert, he has been involved in international negotiations prior to its convening of the first Conference of Parties (COP 1) in 1995 and engaging in the UNFCCC’s review process from the time of its establishment for more than two decade. In addition, he also manages a business working to promote solar home systems for off-grid households in developing countries.
Director, Climate and Energy Area, IGES
Yuji Mizuno
Director, Climate and Energy Area, IGES
Yuji Mizuno is leading the Climate and Energy Area of IGES. After working for a major think tank in Japan, he joined IGES in 2007 and was engaged with researches on a new international regime on climate change and international cooperation on the clean development mechanism for developing countries. From 2011 to 2016, he was serving for the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan, as a Director for International Negotiations and in charge for international negotiations under the UNFCCC, bilateral consultation for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) as well as the operating the national registry for compliance of the Kyoto Protocol. He participated COP21 in Paris as a lead negotiator for market mechanisms in Japanese delegation. He took his current position from 2016. He holds a Ph.D. degree in international relations from Waseda University, and is a part-time teacher at Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University.
Policy Researcher, Kitakyushu Urban Centre, IGES
Junko Ota
Policy Researcher, Kitakyushu Urban Centre, IGES
Junko Ota has been engaged in international negotiation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a member of Japanese delegation; 2006-2008 as a liaison to the UNFCCC Secretariat at the Japanese Embassy in Germany and since 2018 from IGES, following the matters related to finance, adaptation fund and assistance to developing countries. 2012-2014, she lived in Indonesia to assist the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) with the development of Indonesia’s National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation as an expert of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Graduated from University of Hawaii (BA) and Rutgers (MA) in the United States.
Policy Researcher, Climate and Energy Area, IGES
Eri Ikeda
Policy Researcher, Climate and Energy Area, IGES
Eri Ikeda joined the IGES in 2017. She works on the climate policy issues including the international negotiations with a particular focus on the stocktaking processes under the UNFCCC and energy policy. She holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, specialised in the environment and sustainable development. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the same institute.
Professor of International Law and Environmental Law, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University
Moderator
Yukari Takamura
Professor of International Law and Environmental Law, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University
After graduating from Kyoto University (Bachelor of Laws) and receiving Master in Laws (Public International Law) from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Yukari Takamura was appointed Associate Professor of Public International Law at Shizuoka University (1998-2004), Associate Professor (2004-2006) and Professor (2006-2011) of Public International Law at Ryukoku University, and Professor of International Law at Nagoya University (since 2011), Japan. She also studied at Graduate School of University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), France (1993-1995) and was Visiting Researcher at University of London, U.K. (2000-2001).
She serves as member of governmental advisory bodies, among others, Science Council of Japan; Central Council of Environment; and Procurement Price Calculation Committee for Feed-in Tariff Scheme for Renewable Energy. She published many books and articles, among others, ‘Climate Change and Small Island Claims in the Pacific’, Ruppel, O.C. et al. eds., Climate Change: Legal Responses and Global Responsibility Volume I (2013); Chapter Japan in Lord, R. et al. eds., Climate Change Liability (2011): Niizawa, H. and Takamura, Y. eds., Dynamisms of Climate Change Policies (2015) (in Japanese).
