Since 2024, every year the Government of Japan has hosted the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF), gathering international leading figures tackling climate change through technological innovation in Tokyo, Japan.
Initiated by Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, ICEF brings the world’s best minds together to solve the 21st century’s greatest environmental challenges.
ICEF’s mission is to nurture discussion and collaboration among participants and to disseminate innovations in energy and environmental technology to participants and beyond.
A distinguished steering committee from around the world ensures that the program addresses drivers of change based on a sound evidence basis.
Participants are invited from industry, governments and academia to challenge and inform each other with their expertise and listen to distinguished speakers discuss the latest developments in social and technological innovation.
The conference is a great opportunity to meet committed and diverse range of high-level participants and the place to learn about the latest technological innovation from Japan and around the world.
Message
Abe Shinzo, Prime Minister of Japan
The first decade of the 21st century have been warmer than any preceding period since global temperature records began in 1850 and it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming, according to the latest IPCC reports. Climate change is a challenge that humanity is facing at this very moment, not in the future.
In 2007, I, as Prime Minister of Japan, proposed a 50% reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Innovation is the key to achieving this ambitious goal and it is essential for governments, businesses, and academia around the world to share their wisdom and closely cooperate with each other.
Based on this concept, I proposed the establishment of a new international conference where the world's leading policy makers, business persons, and researchers can meet and cooperate with each other to address climate change through innovation. This is an unprecedented attempt, an energy- and environment-focused version of the World Economic Forum.
It would be very beneficial if you, who are at the forefront of one of the biggest challenges to humanity, climate change,
and are responsible for shaping the future of the earth, would participate in this forum. I hope to see you in Tokyo.
Professor, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, School of Earth,
Energy & Environmental Sciences,
Stanford University;
Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University
Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University;
Co-Director, Energy and Environment Concentration, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
President,
Institute of Promotion for Sustainable Society;
Honorary Adviser, National Institute of Technology
and Evaluation (NITE);
Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo
Chairman, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation;
Former Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA)
Country
Japan
Career history
Tanaka Nobuo is Chairman of The Sasakawa Peace Foundation. As Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) from 2007 to 2011, he initiated a collective release of oil stocks in June 2011. He also played a crucial and personal role in the strengthening of ties with major non-Member energy players, including China and India.
He began his career in 1973 in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and has served in a number of high-ranking positions, including Director-General of the Multilateral Trade System Department. He was deeply engaged in bilateral trade issues with the US as Minister for Industry, Trade and Energy at the Embassy of Japan, Washington DC. He has also served twice as Director for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) of the Paris-based international organization, OECD.
Areas of expertise
Energy Security, Trade Negotiation, International Organization
Professor, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, School of Earth,
Energy & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University;
Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University
Country
United States
Career history
2007-Present:
Stanford University.
1978-2007:
Various positions at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, including Division Director for Earth Sciences, Associate Director for Energy Sciences and Deputy Director for Operations.
Areas of expertise
Groundwater hydrology, reservoir engineering, geologic storage of carbon dioxide in deep underground formations, technologies for a low-energy future, and net energy analysis (quantifying overall energy efficiency of a production process by weighing the energetic cost of energy production against the energy produced).
Retired Professor for Energy Systems, Berlin University of Technology;
President of the Board, KSB Energie AG, Berlin
Country
Germany
Career history
2011-2019:
Member of the independent Expert group "Energy for the Future" consulting the Federal Government on the German Energy Transformation
2009
President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE)
2000
Founder of Prognoseforum GmbH
1995-
Professor for Energy Systems at the Institute for Energy Technology, Berlin University of Technology
1982-1995
Post doc researcher and Assistant Professor at the Center for Economic Research, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich
Areas of expertise
Energy economics including energy market modeling and forecasting, energy market reform, energy trade, investment strategies, financing and risk management, and market entry of new energy technologies such as fuel cell and battery electric vehicles; Evolutionary economics applied to energy innovations and technologies
Delegate of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change;
Adviser in the EU affairs
Country
Finland
Career history
2016-
Delegate of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI) at European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels
2015-
Visiting Senior fellow at Tsinghua-Brookings, Beijing
2015-
Professional board member and adviser in the EU affairs
1999-2014
Member of the European Parliament, various positions and responsibilities in the committees for Environment, Energy and Industry, Internal Market
2006-2010
Vice-Chair of the Moderate Coalition party
1996-1999
independent journalist for various radio and tv channels and columnist for several magazines
1993-1996
development educator and press officer in Finnchurchaid
Areas of expertise
PhD in environmental politics, doctoral thesis on Kyoto Protocol and the climate performance of the EU. Emissions trading, waste & energy, eco design, EU Law, Århus convention
Designated Professor, Frontier Research Institute, Chubu University; Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo;
Country
Japan
Career history
2019-
Full Member, The Club of Rome
2019-
Designated Professor, Frontier Research Institute, Chubu University
2016-2019
Ambassador, Women's Initiative in Developing STEM Career (WINDS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2012-2019
Professor, Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science
2012-
Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
2009-
Foreign Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Science
1992-2012
Professor, Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Sciences, The University of Tokyo
1986-1992
Associate Professor, ibid.
1985-1986
Senior Staff Scientist, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, U.K./Visiting Lecturer, King's College London.
1981-1985
Research Fellow/Honorary Lecturer, Department of Biophysics, King's College, London, U.K.
1975-1981
Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, King's College, London, U.K
Areas of expertise
Chemistry and biology working on missing link of microscopic and macroscopic world, e.g., from molecules to crystals in the non-biological domain, and from genes to individual living organisms in the biological domains through chirality (left and right handedness). She also involves in “Science Policy” (ICSU ex-vice President, ex-UN SG SAB on Global Sustainability) as well as in “Science in Society (established a campus-wide minor degree Science Interpreter Training Course at The University of Tokyo graduate school)”.
Jon has spent the last decade at BloombergNEF, operating as CEO Since 2024. He joined the business in 2008 and was previously Deputy CEO.
BloombergNEF has 200 staff in 16 counties. The business provides strategic research to support the transformations taking place in clean energy, advanced transportation and digitization of industry, and their impact on key commodities (Oil, Gas, Coal, Carbon and Power). Jon has focused on servicing strategy, investment and policy professionals at major Corporations, Financial Institutions and Governments.
Prior to BloombergNEF, Jon also spent 22 years' experience of building professional service firms in the financial services industry, across the US, Europe and Asia. From 1986, Jon spent a decade at J P Morgan (in their Commodities business) and Accenture (within their Financial Services practice). In 1996, Jon was co-founder and CEO of a business consulting firm, m.a.partners, where he spent over a decade servicing global Capital Markets clients.
Areas of expertise
Finance and Energy industry trends, in response to Technological and Climate Change
Business strategy and innovation
Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC);
Endowed Chair Professor, Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Korea University
Country
Republic of Korea
Career history
Dr. Hoesung Lee is Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), elected since October 2015, and Endowed Chair Professor at Korea University Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Seoul, Korea. He is a council member of the Global Green Growth Institute, and Chairman of the Asian Development Bank President’s Advisory Board on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Lee was the founding president of the Korea Energy Economics Institute -- a government agency for national energy policy development. He was Distinguished Research Fellow at the Korea Environment Institute, senior adviser to the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister of Environment, senior fellow at the Korea Development Institute and economist at Exxon Company USA. He served as the president of the International Association for Energy Economics, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Battelle-Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA, the Board of Directors of Hyundai Corporation and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan. He served as Vice-Chair of IPCC 2008-2015, and Co-chair of Working Group III of the Second Assessment, lead author and review editor for the various IPCC assessments.
Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Country
United States
Career history
2015-
Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009-2015
Head, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009-
Japan Steel Industry Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1992-2010
Director, Industrial Performance Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1990-
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Areas of expertise
Innovation management and policy. Local, regional, and national systems of innovation. Energy systems. Nuclear technology innovation, management, and control. He is chair of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy.
Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI);
Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change
Country
India
Career history
Ajay Mathur is Director General of TERI – The Energy & Resources Institute, and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
He was Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Government of India from 2006 till February, 2016, and responsible for bringing energy efficiency into our homes, offices, and factories, through initiatives such as the star labelling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve and Trade programme for energy-intensive industries.
Dr Mathur was earlier with TERI from 1986 to 2000, and then headed the Climate Change Team of World Bank in Washington DC. He was President of Suzlon Energy Limited, also headed the interim Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund.
He has been a key Indian climate-change negotiator, and was also the Indian spokesperson at the 2015 climate negotiations at Paris. He is a global leader on technological approaches to address climate change; and is co-chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, a global group of industrial, financial and think-tank leaders focusing on strategies for companies and countries to move towards climate-friendly energy futures.
Areas of expertise
Energy consumption patterns and trends
Climate Change policy
Sustainable development policy
Former Minister for Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa
Country
Republic of South Africa
Career history
Valli Moosa was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a veteran of the South African Freedom struggle. He worked closely with Nelson Mandela during the settlement talks and served as a negotiator for the ANC. He participated in the drafting of the South African Constitution.
He served in President Mandela’s cabinet as Minister of Constitutional Development and in President Mbeki’s government as Environment Minister.
He joined the corporate sector in 2004 and currently serves on the board of Sappi Ltd. He is also a partner in the Lereko Metier Sustainable Capital Fund. He has served on the boards of Anglo Platinum, Eskom and Sanlam.
Has served as a facilitator in the global climate change negotiation’s for a number of years.
He previously served as President of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and as the Chairman of WWF(SA).
Deputy Director General/CEO, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA);
1999-2014
Full Professor of Energy Economics, Vienna University of Technology (TU WIEN)
2019-Present
Member of the International Board of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO)
2019-Present
Member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts
2017-Present
Member Ad Hoc Informal Multi-stakeholder Technical Group of Advisors on Sustainable Development Goal 7
2018-Present
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute for Networked Energy Systems Analysis;
2017-Present
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM);
2016-Present
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute from Climate Impact Research (PIK)
2016-2018
Member of the United Nations Secretary General Special Advisory 10-Member Group to support the Technology Facilitation Mechanism
2009-2016
Member of the Advisory Council of the German Government on Global Change (WBGU)
2012-2016
Co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project (GCP)
2005-2012
Member of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Technical Group on Sustainable Development for All
2005-2012
Director, Global Energy Assessment (GEA)
2001-2015
Coordinating Lead Author, IPCC Fourth and Second Assessment Report; Lead Author of Fifth and Third Assessment Report; Coordinating Lead Author of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
1997-2000
Convening Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios
Serves on numerous advisory boards and editorial board of eight scientific journals.
Areas of expertise
Long-term patterns of technological change, economic development and response to climate change and, in particular, the evolution of energy, mobility, and information and communication technologies
Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University;
Co-Director, Energy and Environment Concentration, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Country
United States
Career history
David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He launched and directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program and has written, most recently, on topics including climate policy, electric vehicle charging, carbon capture and energy diplomacy. During October 2019, Mr. Sandalow is a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University. Mr. Sandalow has served in senior positions at the White House, State Department and U.S. Department of Energy.
Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria, Founding Director of the Library of Alexandria
Country
Egypt
Career history
Ismail Serageldin, an Egyptian national, is the Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria and the Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt, which he headed from its inauguration in 2002 to his retirement in 2017. He has been Distinguished Professor at the College de France in Paris (2010-2011) Vice-President of the World Bank (1993-2000), and has received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), as well as the Legion d’Honneur (France) and the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan). He is a member of many academies, and he was recently elected as a founding Patron of the International Science council (ISC) created in 2018 by a merger of the International Social Science Council and the ICSU (natural Sciences). Mr. Serageldin serves as Chair and Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts, including as co-Chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC). He has a B.Sc. from Cairo University, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and has received 40 Honorary Doctorates.
Areas of expertise
Biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cairo University and Master’s degree and a PhD from Harvard University and has received over 38 honorary doctorates.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba
Country
Canada
Career history
Vaclav Smil does interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. He has published 40 books and nearly 500 papers on these topics. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy). In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the top 100 global thinkers, in 2013 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2015 he received OPEC Award for Research for his energy studies. He has worked as a consultant for many US, EU and international institutions, has been an invited speaker in more than 400 conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, and has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia.
Areas of expertise
Interdisciplinary energy studies
Energy analysis
Energy policy
Energy and the environment
Fossil fuels
Renewable energies
Energy in history
History of technical advances
Energy and food production
Global biogeochemical cycles
CEO, European Climate Foundation;
Chair of the Board of Governors, French Development Agency (AFD);
Professor, Sciences Po Paris
Country
France
Career history
Laurence Tubiana is CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF). In addition to her role at ECF, she is the Chair of the Board of Governors at the French Development Agency (AFD), and a Professor at Sciences Po, Paris. Before joining ECF, Laurence was France’s Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and as such a key architect of the landmark Paris Agreement. Following COP21, she was appointed High Level Champion for climate action.
Laurence brings decades of expertise. From 1997—2002, she served as Senior Adviser on the Environment to the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. From 2009—2010, she created and led the newly established Directorate for Global Public Goods at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She founded in 2002 and directed until 2014 the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). She has held academic positions including Sciences Po and as Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University. She has been a member of numerous boards and scientific committees, including the Chinese Committee on the Environment and International Development (CCICED).
Areas of expertise
Published a number of articles and books on environment, development and international issues
Senior Vice President/Director-General,
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE); Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
Country
Japan
Career history
Dr. Yamaji Kenji, Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo, is Director-General of the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) since April 1, 2010. He served as President of the Japan Institute of Energy and as President of the Japan Society of Energy and Resources. Dr. Yamaji’s immediate past position was a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems at the University of Tokyo. He obtained B.S., M.S., and Dr. of Engineering degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1972, 1974, 1977 respectively. During the earlier part of his career, Dr. Yamaji had been extensively involved in the analysis of energy technology assessment, mainly at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) in Japan. He has published more than 80 books as well as many research papers on energy systems, and he is also serving in many advisory bodies on energy and environmental policy for Japanese government. Dr. Yamaji contributed to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a lead author for 3rd and 4th Assessment Reports of WG3.
President, Institute of Promotion for Sustainable Society;
Honorary Adviser, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE);
Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo
Country
Japan
Career history
2015-
President, Institute of Promotion for Sustainable Society
2009-2015
President, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
2008
Senior Fellow, Japan Science and Technology Agency
2005-
Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo
2003-2007
Vice-Rector, United Nations University
1990-2003
Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
1979
Associate Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
1973
Research Associate, The University of Tokyo
Areas of expertise
Interested in new technologies and methodologies to reduce per capita CO2 emission within 20 - 30 years including ways of thinking and social systems in advanced countries. Ways of Cooperation between developed and under developing countries are other interests.
Fields: CO2 Reduction Technologies, Life Cycle Assessment, Risk Assessment, Risk Communication, Management of Chemical Substances
