Guest Remarks

State Minister of the Environment, TAKISAWA Motome, stated that, in order to solve the triple global crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, which are also the themes of this year's ISAP, he recognised the need to enhance synergies and minimise trade-offs between climate change and problem-solving to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He reported on Japan's active involvement in promoting synergies, such as its presidency of the G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers' Meeting in April 2023 and its commitment to utilising synergies in the meeting's outcome document, as well as its proposal for a resolution to promote synergies at the 6th UN Environment Assembly in March 2024, which was adopted. He also mentioned that Japan communicated the importance of synergy promotion at the related event of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2024, and reaffirmed its cooperation with other countries and relevant organisations. Finally, he reiterated Japan's role in promoting the importance of synergies and leading the world towards integrated solutions to global crises and the achievement of the SDGs, and expressed his hope for deeper concrete discussions on each theme at this year's ISAP.

HASHIMOTO Kazuya, Vice Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture, thanked IGES for its contribution to policy formation in the prefecture through collaborative projects and other activities, and mentioned the 'Kanagawa Decarbonisation Vision 2050' jointly prepared by the prefecture and IGES as one example. He then introduced the prefecture's main initiatives in line with the theme of this year's ISAP. On climate change, he stated that the prefecture had announced the realisation of a decarbonised society by 2050 ahead of the rest of the country, raised its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and made a complete revision of the Kanagawa Global Warming Prevention Plan. With regard to biodiversity, he introduced the fact that, based on the Kanagawa Biodiversity Plan, measures are being taken in accordance with the characteristics of each area in the prefecture and that the prefectural version of the Red Data Book is being updated. With regard to environmental pollution, he reported that the prefecture has enacted an ordinance imposing stricter regulations than national laws and regulations and is working to reduce environmental risks, and that it is actively promoting initiatives under the Kanagawa Prefecture Recycling-oriented Society Development Plan to form a recycling-oriented society. Finally, he expressed his hopes for continued cooperation with IGES and introduced the International Horticultural Green Expo scheduled to be held in the prefecture in 2027, expressing his wish to draw up an optimum solution for the sustainability of nature, people and society together.

Welcoming remarks

TAKEUCHI Kazuhiko, President of IGES, stated that at this year's ISAP, IGES will deepen specific discussions on integrated approaches to tackle various challenges in an inclusive manner from a transdisciplinary thinking and cross-sectoral perspective in order to overcome the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution on the planet. As a key initiative of IGES on integrated approaches, he introduced IGES' deepening engagement with the Ministry of the Environment, Japan in promoting synergies between climate change and the SDGs, noting that IGES had delivered a message on implementing synergy resolutions and strengthening synergy actions at an official side event of the 6th UN Environment Assembly. He also reported that the expert group on climate change and SDG synergies, where he is a member, had published its second global report at the HLPF. He also introduced a forthcoming IGES book on the topic of integrated approaches, which provides academic commentary and various practical examples of such approaches. Finally, referring to the achievements of MORISHIMA Akio, the first President of IGES, who passed away in May 2024, he stressed that IGES will build on the foundation laid by Prof. Morishima, broaden its strategic research based on scientific knowledge and further develop its activities as a research organisation that can be a partner in policy practice that promotes social change.

Summary

The special session began with a keynote speech by Luis Gomez-Echeverri who presented the results of work on harnessing the synergies between climate action and sustainable development. Mr. Gomez-Echeverri was one of the leaders of a comprehensive and timely synthesis report on synergies that was carried out over the last year with a group of experts, including researchers from IGES, on four thematic areas: 1) knowledge and data; 2) policy frameworks; 3) financing; and 4) cities.

Mr. Gomez-Echeverri pointed out that this synthesis report and other high-level reports underline the importance of leveraging synergies between climate and sustainable development to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. However, countries often struggle to follow this advice. The recently released report offer governments guidance on how they can move synergies forward.

To underline the need for guidance, the report present data on the negative impact of acting in silos, in terms of short-falls in financial resources, millions of jobs lost and many people at risk of hunger. On the other hand, the report also argues that by acting in synergy, decision makers can reduce financing gaps, achieve globally agreed targets faster, and ensure a just transition. However, there are many barriers to taking up synergistic action, including fragmentation across governance, financial flows and knowledge. To help address this fragmentation, the report points to several areas for action. First, it is vital to strengthen institutional coordination, overcome incoherence in implementation, navigate policy constraints by identifying shared idea and visions, and to provide the frameworks, tools and other resources that can facilitate synergistic action. Second, the current financial architecture is not fit for purpose and there is a failure to invest in the amounts needed to tackle climate change and achieve the SDGs, and a failure to invest in the sectors most in need, such as climate-resilient infrastructure and food systems, as well as adaptation. Third, proper knowledge and data is required to enhance our understanding of the economic need to pursue synergies, to accurately reflect physical climate and transition risks, to facilitate mechanisms of co-financing through public and private institutions, and to elucidate concepts and resolve inconsistencies, for example, regarding green taxonomies. Mr. Gomez-Echeverri further gave some examples of enablers, pointing to the need to localise actions, with a central role played by cities. The report also gives several recommendations – policy coordination, inclusivity, institutional capacity, financial viability, resilience building, and the need to drive change.

Eric Zusman then gave a presentation on IGES contribution to the Synergy report, and how synergies can capture the positive interactions between climate and other development priorities. Synergistic actions can translate responses to global, long-term and uncertain threats into local, near-term and certain benefits, and this can help drive big transformative changes to systems. He used the example of Middleboro, Massachusetts (his hometown) to show the links between broad issues like independence, freedom and mobility, and people’s livelihoods and how these helped bring about big changes to the town’s transport system more than a century ago. In highlighting his hometown, he noted that it is important to link synergies to personal experiences, and use those locally felt connections as a way to leverage the response to climate change, biodiversity, and other major environmental threats facing the world today.