This panel discussion will delve into climate action within Japan, the ASEAN network, and the United States, focusing on the role of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources in each region – past, present, and future. We will also explore global climate collaboration and alignment, including COP29. We’ll close with what we as global citizens need to know and can do to take climate action in our own lives.
U.S.-Japan Climate Collaboration will be held on Thursday, March 21 at the Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Doors open at 5PM, and the speaking portion of the program will be 6PM–7PM. We encourage you to arrive right at 5PM to connect with each other over complimentary hors d’oeuvres.
View the recording online.
We're excited to partner with the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh on this program! This event is part of the Japan Currents program, supported by the National Association of Japan-America Societies and the Embassy of Japan.
Speakers
Ken Koyama is Chief Economist and Senior Managing Director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). He also takes a position of Visiting Professor at Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo and Adjunct Professor at Institute of Innovative Research at Tokyo Institute of Technology.
He was awarded the degree of: (1) B.A. in Economics in 1982 from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan; (2) M.A. in Economics in 1986 from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan; and (3) PhD in 2001 from University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland. His specialized field of research is: energy security and geopolitics of energy; and analysis for global energy market and policy issues with emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.
He has served as a member of energy policy related advisory councils and committees of Japanese government in many occasions. He also plays a role as: Member of the OPEC Energy Review Editorial Board, Visiting Senior Fellow at Institute for International Economic Studies and Board of Director at the Japan Electric Power Exchange.
He was awarded the BrandLaureate’s “Brand Personality Award 2016”, the 43th “Energy Forum Award” in 2023 and “Kashiwagi Takao GXI Award” in 2023. He was also awarded the OPEC Award for Research in July 2023.
Phillip Lipscy is professor of political science at the University of Toronto, where he is also Chair in Japanese Politics and Global Affairs and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In addition, he is cross-appointed as professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo.
His research addresses substantive topics such as international cooperation, international organizations, the politics of energy and climate change, international relations of East Asia, and the politics of financial crises. He has also published extensively on Japanese politics and foreign policy. Lipscy’s book from Cambridge University Press, Renegotiating the World Order: Institutional Change in International Relations, examines how countries seek greater international influence by reforming or creating international organizations.
Before arriving at the University of Toronto, Lipscy was assistant professor of political science at Stanford University. Lipscy obtained his PhD in political science at Harvard University. He received his MA in international policy studies and BA in economics and political science at Stanford University. He is also affiliated with the Program on United States-Japan Relations at Harvard University, Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the United States-Japan Council.
Kay Shimizu is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a Visiting Scholar at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Japan. Her research addresses institutional design and their effects on economic governance with a special interest in central local relations, property rights, and the digital transformation. Her publications include Political Change in Japan: Electoral Behavior, Party Realignment, and the Koizumi Reforms (coedited with Steven R. Reed and Kenneth McElwain) as well as articles in Socio-Economic Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Current History, and Social Science Japan Journal. She is the author of Betting on the Farm: Institutional Change in Japanese Agriculture with Patricia Maclachlan, and The Digital Transformation and Japan's Political Economy with Ulrike Schaede. Shimizu received her Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. She contributes regularly to the public discourse on international relations and the political economy of Asia and has been a fellow at the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation, the National Committee on U.S. China Relations, and the U.S.-Japan Foundation.
William Peduto will serve as moderator of our discussion. William Peduto is a distinguished executive in residence at Carnegie Mellon University. He served as the 60th Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh from 2014–2022. Prior to taking office, he worked for 19 years on Pittsburgh City Council – seven years as a staffer and then twelve years as a Member of Council.
The JASP thanks the National Association of Japan-America Societies and the Embassy of Japan for their generous support of the Japan Currents program.
