On August 1st (Sunday), the 2nd International Symposium on Policies for Sustainable Low-carbon Society was held in the Graduate School of Management Case Study Classroom. The symposium was organized by the Kyoto University Urban Policy Unit for Low Carbon Society and the Graduate School of Management Green Innovation Unit for the aim of sharing information and discussing the necessary policies needed for creating a low carbon society from the various perspectives of technology, management and politics. Lecturers from France and Korea were also invited and there was active discussion with the participating students, practitioners and researchers.
Following a greeting by Professor Eichi Taniguchi, Head of the Urban Policy Unit for Low Carbon Society, the first half of the symposium consisted of two keynote lecture, the first by Dr. Jean Luc Ygnace, a researcher at the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research. His lecture was titled “Trends and Prospects for Reducing Road Transportation Carbon Emissions in France,” and focused on transportation policies to reduce CO2 in France. Within his lecture, Dr. Ygnace stated that in order to reduce CO2 emissions from automobiles, which is one of the main sources of CO2 emissions, the way people use transportation must be changed and order to influence this change, there must be strategic development in transportation policies and public transportation. He also discussed some surveys and research regarding this in France and the United States.
Following Dr. Ygnace’s lecture, Professor Jae Kyu Lee of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) spoke on “Dynamics of National Green Policy, Green Business Strategy, and Green Technology Research Planning” and introduced various technologies, policies and business opportunities related to the keyword “low carbon” in both Korea and the world. As an example of various technologies to reduce gases that cause global warming, energy recycling such as solar or wind powered energy; smartgrid or electric cars; and LED lights are given as examples, but these technologies still have many problems regarding cost in developing them as business opportunities. Professor Lee spoke about policies such as green tax policies, which may help solve these various cost issues.
In the afternoon, a lecture was given by Professor Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Dean of the Graduate School of Management, on the “Effective Communication for Low Carbon Society”, which introduced the roles of communication in a highly advanced society. After progresses in environmental technology, advances in communication, accumulation of environmental knowledge and carbon emission statistics were introduced, Professor Kobayashi spoke about various suggestions for transportation and communication movements which will aid in the realization of a low carbon society. Following Professor Kobayashi’s lecture, there was a “Practical Session” with the theme, “Challenges for Low Carbon Societies in Japan”, where Professor Katsuji Ishihara of the Graduate School of Management and Dr. Kiyoshi Yamasaki, researcher at the Value Management Institute, spoke about tools which are being developed to propose policies for a low carbon society and policies guidelines made by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to realize a low carbon society. There was a question and answer session at the end, and the symposium was closed by Professor Kobayashi, who spoke about upcoming symposiums organized by the Unit.
 Keynote Lecture by Dr. Jean Luc Ygnace |
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 View of Lecture Room |
