TAKAHASHI Yasuo

Executive Director, IGES

Mr. Takahashi Yasuo graduated from the Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, and in 1983, he joined the Environment Agency of Japan (the current Ministry of the Environment). He held key positions at the Ministry including Director of the Climate Policy Division, Director General of the Headquarters for Environmental Restoration of Fukushima, Director General of the Environmental Management Bureau, and Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs. After retiring from the Ministry in 2019, he was appointed Senior Advisor for the Ministry, and joined IGES in January 2020 as Special Policy Advisor. He has served as Executive Director of IGES since November 2020.

TANIGUCHI Makoto

Deputy Director-General, RIHN Center, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)

Prof. Dr. Makoto Taniguchi is a hydrologist and a deputy director-general at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan. He is a Cooperation Member of Science Council of Japan, Future Earth Assembly member, and Steering Committee member of Water-Energy-Food Nexus KAN. He served PI and Co-PI of many research projects including UNESCO-GRAPHIC, Groundwater in Asian Megacities, Water-Energy-Food Nexus, and Belmont Forum SUGI Food-Energy-Water Nexus, Carbon Neutrality based on Sustainable Development Goals Nexus. He has worked on water-related projects around the world, authoring or co-authoring over 180 articles, and editing or co-editing 8 books, including “From Headwater to the Ocean, “The Dilemma of Boundaries”, and “Groundwater as a Key for Adaptation to the Changing Climate and Society”

Vibha DHAWAN

Director General, TERI

Dr. Vibha Dhawan is the Director General of India’s premier research institution - The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and has been associated with TERI since 1985. She is actively involved in research and policy development at the national and international levels, as well as being a well-published researcher who worked on the establishment of the highly successful Micropropagation Technology Park at TERI. In the area of advanced biofuels, she guides the activities of the DBT-TERI Centre on Integrated Production of Advanced Biofuels and Biocommodities.

She has also held several leadership positions outside TERI, and is currently serving as Adjunct Professor, Consul General of South Asia Partnership, Michigan State University. She has won several prestigious awards including the Indian Women Achievers Sammaan 2017 by NRI Achievers.

Chang Hoon LEE

President, Korea Environment Institute (KEI)

After receiving a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Bremen, Dr. Lee joined the Korea Environment Institute, a leading public think tank in environmental policy. His main research areas include environmental taxation and financing, cost-benefit analysis of environmental policy, and environmental impact assessment of energy policy. He has also participated in various national environmental and energy planning processes. In particular, he was the chief editor of the 4th Comprehensive National Environmental Plan (2016~2035) of Korea. After assuming various managerial roles in KEI, he currently serves as President.

HAYASHI Yoshitsugu

President, The Japanese Association of the Club of Rome / Distinguished Professor, Center for Sustainable Development and Global Smart City, Chubu University

Yoshitsugu Hayashi is Distinguished Professor, Chubu University, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, China.

He is also Executive Committee member of The Club of Rome consisting of world-wide leading politicians, business people and academicians. He was 6th President of WCTRS (World Conference on Transport Research Society) (2013-2019), Visiting Professors at Institute for Transport Studies, Leeds University, UK and Institute of Spatial Planning, University of Dortmund, Germany and Tongji University, China.

He has been international research leaders in transport – land use interactions, and their impacts on climate change and disaster, and also influences of COVID-19 Pandemic.

The results of such activities have been published in more than 40 books including “Intercity Transport and Climate Change” (Springer, 2014), “Disaster Resilient Cities” (Elsevier, 2016), “Balancing Nature and Civilization” (Springer, 2019) and “Transportation amid Pandemics - Lessons Learned from COVID-19” (Elsevier, 2022)”.

Sandrine DIXSON-DECLEVE

Co-President, The Club of Rome

Sandrine Dixson-Decleve is an international and European climate, energy, sustainable development, sustainable finance, complex systems thought leader. She is currently the Co-President of the Club of Rome and divides her time between lecturing, facilitating difficult conversations and advisory work. She currently Chairs the European Commission, Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR) and sits on several Boards & Advisory Boards including Climate KIC, Laudes Foundation, Imperial College Leonardo Centre, EDP, BMW, UCB and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). In addition, she is an Ambassador, for the Energy Transition Commission (ETC) and the Well Being Alliance (WeAll) and a Fellow of the World Academy of Science & Art. In 2017 Sandrine co-founded the Women Enablers Change Agent Network (WECAN). Sandrine recently published “Earth for All: A survival guide for humanity” with other authors.

TAKEUCHI Kazuhiko

President, IGES

TAKEUCHI Kazuhiko graduated from the Department of Geography, the University of Tokyo in 1974. He obtained M.Agr. and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Agriculture, the University of Tokyo. He served as a Professor at the Asian Natural Environmental Science Center, and as Professor at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Science at the University of Tokyo from 1997 to 2012. He also served as a Vice-Rector and Senior Vice-Rector at the United Nations University from 2008 to 2016. From 2016, he has served as a Senior Visiting Professor at United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He was Director and Professor/Project Professor of IR3S at the University of Tokyo from 2017 to 2019. He has served as President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) since July 2017. He took up the position as Project Professor of the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) at the University of Tokyo in April 2019. He has served, inter alia, as Chair of the Central Environmental Council, Government of Japan, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sustainability Science (Springer Nature) and Distinguished Chair, Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi.

He specialises in landscape ecology, landscape planning, and sustainability science.