The “2021-2022 China-Japan High-Level Expert Symposium on Zero-emission Growth was successfully held online and offline on September 21, 2022 in Beijing, with nearly 30 scientists and corporate representatives from China and Japan participating and nearly 10,000 people attending online. The symposium was co-hosted by the Department of Foreign Expert Services of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China and the Sakura Science Program of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and co-organized by the Foreign Talent Research Center of the MOST and Tsinghua University. Tsinghua University’s Institute for Carbon Neutrality (ICON, Tsinghua University), School of Environment, School of Vehicle and Mobility, School of Architecture, and Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development jointly participated in the preparations. The symposium focused on the “Zero-emission Growth” and was the closing event of 2022 symposiums on the theme of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Group Photo of the Attendees
Li Xin, Deputy Director General of the Department of Foreign Expert Services of the MOST, said in his opening speech that scientific and technological innovation cooperation is an important part of China-Japan relations, and the two countries have complementary advantages and enormous cooperation potential. Both the Chinese and Japanese governments have established carbon neutrality goals, promoting a substantial transition to a low-carbon society. It is hoped that the participating experts, scholars, and corporate representatives will pool practical wisdom, refine sparks of thoughts, explore new ideas for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, strive to promote innovation cooperation for better quality and efficiency, jointly support the growth of young scientists, and write a new chapter for the development of the symposium and China-Japan friendship.
Kishi Teruo, Director General of the Sakura Science Program Headquarters of JST, fully affirmed the positive role of the “China-Japan High-Level Expert Symposium” in promoting sustainable development in both countries. He expressed his hope that experts would thoroughly discuss ways to achieve a zero-carbon society and provide useful suggestions for both countries to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Zeng Rong, Vice President of Tsinghua University, said in his speech that Tsinghua University is actively integrating relevant disciplinary advantages and characteristics, collaboratively creating cutting-edge core technologies such as low-carbon, zero-carbon, and negative-carbon, and will fully play the role of innovation leadership in addressing global climate change and achieving carbon neutrality breakthroughs in fundamental theory and key technologies.
Professor Asuka Jusen from Tohoku University’s Center for Northeast Asian Studies and the Graduate School of Environmental Studies stated that achieving zero-carbon growth requires scientists and enterprises from both countries to carry out collaborative research in multiple fields and build new research systems. He hoped that this event could serve as an opportunity for further development and cooperation between China and Japan in the future.
The event featured three sessions of thematic discussions: Zero-emission Transportation, Zero-emission Technologies for Urban-rural Habitat, Zero Emission Roadmap of Urban-rural Development and Transportation. He Kebin, academician of CAE, Dean of ICON, Tsinghua University, and professor of the School of Environment, and Professor Asuka Jusen from Tohoku University’s Center for Northeast Asian Studies and the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, served as the academic conveners for the symposium. They brought together leading talents and well-known corporate representatives such as Ouyang Minggao, academician of CAS, chief scientist at the Zero Carbon Transportation Research Center of ICON, Tsinghua University, and professor at the School of Vehicle and Mobility; Jiang Yi, academician of CAE, chief scientist at the Zero Carbon Building Research Center of ICON, Tsinghua University, and professor at the School of Architecture; Tanabe Shin-ichi, professor in the School of Science and Engineering at Waseda University; and Sawachi Takao, President of Building Research Institute, among others. The attendees conducted keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, and “cloud research” on China Construction Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd.’s “Dual Carbon” pioneer case and the carbon neutrality practice experience of Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises. Ms. Yoneyama Haruko, Executive Officer of JST, and representatives from the MOST’s Department of Science and Technology for Social Development, China’s Administrative Centre for China’s Agenda 21 (ACCA21), and the Foreign Talent Research Center of MOST also attended the event.
To implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Implementation of the “China-Japan Young Scientists Exchange Program” signed by the MOST and the JST in 2019, the China-Japan High-Level Expert Symposium has so far been successfully held in eight fields, including disaster prevention and reduction, intelligent manufacturing, medical health, brain science, marine environment, public health, low-carbon settlements, and energy transition. The event has become a platform for open communication among top scientists from China and Japan, promoting follow-up cooperation between research institutions in both countries. The next step will continue to focus on cutting-edge fields of science and technology, provide a platform for mutual learning and reference among scientists from both sides and promote the development of China-Japan scientific and technological exchanges.
Contributed by: Department of Foreign Expert Service, MOST
Foreign Talent Research Center, MOST
