COVID-19 poses a great threat to the global economy and has had a massive impact on our lives and societies. While countries are taking various measures to prevent further outbreaks of the virus, they are promoting economic recovery at the same time. It is possible to accelerate the transition to a sustainable society by making appropriate use of measures against COVID-19 as well as economic recovery measures that involve large-scale financial expenditures. Under the growing movement to link COVID-19 countermeasures to the transition to a sustainable society, IGES is contributing to two important projects. The first is a green recovery tracker that collects information on COVID-19 recovery measures in each country that may have an impact on building a sustainable society, led by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in collaboration with many research institutes, The other is the online "Platform for Redesign 2020", launched by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) with the support of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which introduces COVID-19 countermeasures for a sustainable society. This session will share insights from these activities and discuss what is needed to help countries transition their recovery strategies to a more sustainable society.
Policymakers in energy and environment sectors / General audience
SpeakersStrategic Management Office, Senior Fellow, IGES
Kazuo Matsushita
Strategic Management Office, Senior Fellow, IGES
Prof. Kazuo Matsushita is Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University, Senior Fellow of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Chairman of the Japan Society for GNH Studies, President of the International Academic Society for Asian Community (ISAC), Co-chair on Climate and Environment of T20 Saudi-Arabia, Examiner for Environmental Guidelines at JICA. Served as Professor of environmental policy at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University. Also worked at the Ministry of the Environment of the Government of Japan, OECD, and the UN Conference on Environment and Development. Major research areas are sustainability studies, climate change and global environmental policies. His publications include “Environment in the 21st Century and New Development Patterns” and “Environmental Governance”.
Research Manager, Sustainability Governance Centre, IGES
So-Young Lee
Research Manager, Sustainability Governance Centre, IGES
Dr. So-Young Lee is Senior Policy Researcher at IGES where she manages research on sustainability governance and climate co-benefits for the underprivileged. Dr. Lee specialises in Environmental Sociology and has lectured at Korea University (ROK), Beijing Normal University (China) and Waseda University (Japan). She is the author and co-author of multiple publications including Climate Change Governance in Asia (2020 Routledge), Global Environment Outlook 6 for Industry in Asia-Pacific (2019 UNEP), Inclusive Green Finance (2019 AFI), Routledge Handbook of Climate Justice (2019 Routledge), Air Pollution in Asia and the Pacific (2018 UNEP) as well as video series i.e. Empowering Women to Mitigate Climate Change: Gender-responsive Approaches (2017 ADB) and more. She obtained a Diploma from the LSE and a PhD from Essex University both in Sociology.
Lead, Sustainable Energy Supplies International Institute for Sustainable Development
Ivetta Gerasimchuk
Lead, Sustainable Energy Supplies International Institute for Sustainable Development
Ivetta Gerasimchuk leads the sustainable energy supplies activities of IISD's Energy Program and its Global Subsidies Initiative. Her expertise lies with international economics and political strategies for implementing energy taxation and pricing reforms, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable international investment flows. She also works on international energy governance, including through G20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. In 2020, Dr. Gerasimchuk led on the creation of the Energy Policy Tracker, a collaboration of over twenty organizations to report on G20+ governments commitments to support fossil and clean energy in response to the COVID-19 crisis. She holds BA, MA and PhD in Economics degrees from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations.
Principal Coordinator, Strategic Management Office, IGES
Satoshi Kojima
Principal Coordinator, Strategic Management Office, IGES
Dr. Satoshi Kojima graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Master of Engineering. After engaging in water and environment related official development assistance (ODA) projects in several countries including Indonesia and Hungary, he studied environmental economics at the University of York in the United Kingdom. After receiving a Ph.D. of Environmental Economics, he joined IGES in 2005 and has engaged mainly in quantitative policy analysis of sustainable development policy in East Asia. He published a book “Sustainable Development in Water-stressed Developing Countries: A Quantitative Policy Analysis” from Edward Elgar Publishing in 2007.