ASAKAWA Kenji

Programme Manager, City Taskforce, IGES

Dr. Asakawa completed a Master of Urban Environment Engineering in Architectural Engineering at the Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering. While working at a consulting company on environmental preservation projects based on ODA and being involved in environmental impact assessment both in Japan and overseas, he obtained a class-1 certification as an Architect and as a Professional Engineer. Subsequently, after working in the development of global warming mitigation, including CDM projects, and climate policy, he obtained his Juris Doctor from Omiya Law School and passed the National Bar Examination. Since 2013, he has been working at IGES in research and investigation on legal framework of carbon tax from the viewpoint of legal risk management, including fair differentiation on tax rate due to net tax burden identified by financial analysis, as well as practical application of “Soft-law”, a collection of nonbinding social norms, for controlling urban development to achieve low-carbon and sustainable city in emerging cities in developing countries.

WATABE Atsushi

Programme Director, Sustainable Consumption and Production Area, IGES

Atsushi Watabe has a strong background in the Sociology of Rural Development, Population Movement, and Migration in the South-east Asian Countries. He is also experienced in monitoring and evaluating environmental policies (in particular climate policies) in the developing countries. He has been engaged in the tasks as follows: Monitoring and Advisory of Indonesia Climate Change Program Loan (2008-2012), Fukushima Action Research (2012-14), UN 10-Year Framework for Sustainable Consumption and Production (2014-), and Policy Design and Evaluation to Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns in Asian Region (2016-).

MURAKAMI Chisato

Chairperson of Committee on Environment, Nippon Association of Consumer Specialists

She joined IBM Japan Ltd. in 1987, and moved to Nippon Ecology Network (an environmental NGO) in 1992. As an NGO staff member, she was involved in the establishment of the Global Environment Outreach Centre, set up by the Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations University.

In 2003, she was appointed as the Executive Director of Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J), and she served as the Deputy Director for the establishment of the ESD Resource Center from 2016. She has held her current position since 2019. She has been working as a facilitator of "Energy Workshop for Youth" and "Citizen's Meeting for Decarbonizing Kawasaki " at the Institute for Dialogue of Environmental Policy.

KAWAHARA Yuki

CEO, Taiyo Jyuken Co., Ltd.

Mr. Kawahara is CEO of Taiyo Jyuken who has led the town development project "solar crew". This project is a profitable business but at the same time it contributes to the local community by utilizing vacant houses. The project received the 8th Good Life Award from the Minister of the Environment.

He also serves as the representative director of the YOKOHAMA Living Lab Support Office, the regional coordinator of the Yokohama SDGs Design Center, and the director of the certified NPO Shimin Sector Yokohama.

NIWA Yumiko

Staff at the SDGs Future City Promotion Division, Climate Change Policy Headquarters, City of Yokohama

NIWA Yumiko graduated from the Department of Law and began her career at the City of Yokohama in 2014. After gaining experience in a few divisions in the municipal government, she is now with the SDGs Future City Promotion Division.