The Future of Earth and Biodiversity Week
Achieving a circular economy
Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition
Discussion
- Others
| Transmission of simultaneous interpretation | Provided |
|---|---|
| Language of interpretation | Japanese and English |
Reservations are required for this programme.
Booking typically opens with the '2-month advance lottery.' Click below for details.
* Arrive early; latecomers may not be admitted.
For more information about making a reservation to watch a programme.
This programme is scheduled to be live streamed at the Virtual Expo. We will inform you once it is confirmed.
-
Agenda2025
Organised Programme
- * Programme times and content are subject to change. Any changes will be announced on this website and via the ticket booking system.
- * The schedule is subject to change depending on the organiser's circumstances.
- Time and
Date of
the event -
-
2025.09.19[Fri]
13:30 ～ 15:30
(Venue Open 13:00)
-
- Venue
- Theme Weeks Studio
Programme details
The programme, together with the General Sponsors, explores: 'Is it possible to pursue a prosperous future by the concept of a "circular economy" as a means to balance the economy, well-being, and sustainability?'
*Simultaneous interpretation is available in both English and Japanese. Please bring a smartphone, tablet or other internet-enabled device with earphones to listen.
Cast
Moderator
Tokutaro Nakai
Executive Advisor of Nippon Steel Corporation, Former Vice-Minister of the Environment, Representative Director of Millennium Sustainability Foundation
Born in 1962, he graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1985 and entered the Ministry of Finance. After serving as First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom, Director of the Living Environment Department of Toyama Prefecture, Director of the Public Relations Office of the Ministry of Finance, Professor at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Planning Officer at the Financial Bureau, and Principal Accounting Officer at the Ministry of Finance, he joined the Ministry of the Environment in July 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake. After serving as Director of the Accounting Division, Director of the Secretarial Division, Director of the Waste Management and Recycling Department, and Director-General for Comprehensive Environmental Policy, he became Former Vice-Minister of the Environment in July 2020. He has been deeply committed to the regional recycling symbiosis zone concept, the 2050 carbon neutrality target, and the promotion of carbon pricing, and after retiring in July 2022, he became an Executive Advisor of Nippon Steel Corporation and Representative Director of Millennium Sustainability Foundation.
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Speakers
© 2024 Noboru Ota
Noboru Ota
Mayor of Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture
After graduating from the Law School at Kyoto University in March 1975, Noboru Ota joined Kyoto Prefecture in April of the same year, where he served as Manager of the Finance Division of the General Affairs Department, Director of Staff in the Governor’s office (Director of Human Resources Department), Director of the Governor's Office, and Director of the General Affairs Department, before becoming Deputy Governor of Kyoto Prefecture in 2010 In April 2013, Ota was appointed Mayor of Maniwa City and is currently serving his third term. Under the slogan of the SDGs, Ota is promoting regional revitalization for sustainable regional development, such as wood biomass power generation projects that utilize local resources.
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Veena Sahajwalla
Scientia Professor, Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology, The University of New Souths Wales
Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials’ at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, where she is Founding Director. Professor Veena is the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as green steel, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres in steel production. In 2018, Veena launched the world's first e-waste MICROfactorieTM and in 2019 she launched her plastics and Green Ceramics MICROfactoriesTM, a recycling technology breakthrough. Professor Veena is the director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for ‘microrecycling’, a leading national research centre that works in collaboration with industry to ensure new recycling science is translated into real world environmental and economic benefits. Professor Veena has also been appointed hub leader of the national NESP Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. In 2021, Professor Veena featured in the ABC’s Australian Story and she was named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year in recognition of her work. Professor Veena was named the 2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winner for the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science and was also awarded the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) Clunies Ross Innovation Award. In 2023, Professor Veena was awarded the Engineering Australia Chemical College Chemical Engineer Achievement Award and the Good Design 2023 Women in Design Award.
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Rahul Bhasin
Managing Partner, Baring Private Equity Partnes India Pvt. Ltd
Rahul Bhasin is the Managing Partner of Baring Private Equity Partners India and a Senior Partner and Global Board Member of Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP) International. Rahul is a member of the Investment Committees and Advisory boards internationally including for the Barings and ING group entities. He was part of a group of three executive global board members that led the MBO of Barings globally. He has chaired the board of several listed and unlisted companies in India and abroad. He has served as the Chairman of Mphasis Limited and oversaw its transformation from a loss-making start up to fast growing profitable company. Introducing several managerial, hygiene, productivity and growth drivers, followed by a roll up strategy, the company now enjoys a market cap in excess of $6 billion. He has been on multiple government advisory bodies and forums.
Prior to Baring, Rahul managed propriety and third-party capital and was part of the global Asset Allocation Committee of at Citibank, overseeing a $83 billion portfolio. Besides his experience in the developed markets, he has actively invested in the emerging markets including Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia. He has also managed a portfolio of derivative securities investing in the developed markets. Rahul also had oversight of an 800+ strong IT department and oversaw a unit in charge of all new business launches for Citigroup worldwide. He was the youngest ever Independent Treasurer at Citibank worldwide. Rahul is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has been a guest lecturer/visiting faculty at Harvard Business School, Wharton, ISB, IIM Ahmedabad and Ashoka University.
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Saori Koga
General Manager MITSUBISHI MATERIALS CORPORATION, METALS COMPANY, Business Development Dept. Resource Circulation Div. Planning sect.
・Responsible for development and operation of resource circulation business at Mitsubishi Materials Corporation(MMC) with its vision of “Circulation Resources"
・Brand manager of “REMINE”, MMC's recycled metals brand
・Professional Engineer(Resources Recycle & Environmental Security)
・Member of Gender Equality Committee of The Institution of Professional Engineers, Japan
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©Johannes Frandsen
Kate Raworth
Doughnut Economics Action Lab | Co-Founder & Author
Kate Raworth is an ecological economist and creator of the Doughnut - a concept that aims to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet - and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Her internationally best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist has been translated into over 20 languages and has been widely influential with diverse audiences, from the UN General Assembly and Pope Francis to Extinction Rebellion. Kate is a Senior Teaching Fellow at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Over the past 30 years, Kate’s career has taken her from working with micro-entrepreneurs in the villages of Zanzibar to co-authoring the Human Development Report for UNDP in New York, followed by a decade as Senior Researcher at Oxfam. She holds a first-class BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and MSc in Economics for Development, both from Oxford University and has honorary doctorates from the University of York, University College Dublin, KU Leuven, and Business School Lausanne.
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Hisashi Hatomoto
Director, Policy and Coordination Division, Environmental Regeneration and Material Cycles Bureau, Ministry of the Environment
After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1996, he joined the Ministry of Finance. After studying abroad at the University of Chicago (Graduate School of Public Policy), he was involved in budget examination and tax reform. From 2016 to 2019 (during the first Trump administration), he worked as Counselor (Finance) at the Embassy of Japan in the United States. After returning to Japan, he was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' budget as Budget Examiner in the Budget Bureau at the Ministry of Finance. In 2021, he was appointed Director of the Environmental Economics Division, Minister's Secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment. He led the carbon pricing and ESG finance, which are measures to achieve the reduction of carbon emission through economic approaches. Since 2023, as Director of the Policy and Coordination Division of the Environmental Regeneration and Material Cycles Bureau of the Ministry of the Environment, he continues to promote efforts toward the transition to a circular economy, which is positioned as a national strategy.
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The Future of Earth and Biodiversity Week
Achieving a circular economy
-
2025.09.19[Fri]
13:30～15:30
(Venue Open 13:00)
- Theme Weeks Studio
- * Programme times and content are subject to change. Any changes will be announced on this website and via the ticket booking system.
- * The schedule is subject to change depending on the organiser's circumstances.
Reservations are required for this programme.
Booking typically opens with the '2-month advance lottery.' Click below for details.
* Arrive early; latecomers may not be admitted.
For more information about making a reservation to watch a programme.
This programme is scheduled to be live streamed at the Virtual Expo. We will inform you once it is confirmed.
OTHER PROGRAM
The Future of Earth and Biodiversity Week
