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This paper presents three initiatives by Japanese local governments that bring synergies to climate change, biodiversity, and the SDGs. These examples were shared with the world by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan at the High-Level Political Forum in 2023.

In Japan, over 460 municipalities, so-called “Zero Carbon Cities” along with the national government have committed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. It aims to create ”domino effect”, in which the best performing Zero Carbon Cities knock down other municipalities to turn the whole country to be carbon neutral. Goto City, a...

These slides were used for a video commentary on the main takeaways of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA75), which was held virtually for the first time in the history of the UN in 2020. There are two versions of the video commentary available (short and extended) and they provide insight into the five crises of focus...

The Japanese government has proposed a vision called "Circulating and Ecological Economy" in the Fifth Basic Environment Plan approved by the Cabinet in April 2018. The Circulating and Ecological Economy is an idea that aims to develop self-reliant and decentralized societies by leveraging regional resources, including natural environments and...