reporter
Name Affiliation Title Toru Yoshida Planning Department Sustainability Promotion Office Planning Officer
summary
Date: November 17, 2025
Organized by: Ministry of the Environment
Name of venue (pavilion name)：Japan Pavilion
speaker
Name Affiliation Title Kentaro Doi, Deputy Director-General for Global Environment, Ministry of the Environment Katsura Miyazaki, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, JICA Bahareh Seyadi, Senior Officer, UNDESA Hongpen Lei, Chief, Mitigation Team, Climate Change Division, UNEP Yoko Watanabe, Director, Environment Division, ADB Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department Airi Otsu, O2Farm Co. Representative Taku Kato, Group Leader, Sustainability Promotion Group, Culture Transformation Department, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.
Background and Objectives
At the 6th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) held at the end of February 2023, the Japanese government submitted a draft resolution on synergy, which was adopted.
The Ministry of Environment and IGES, while actively involved in the global synergy movement, held discussions with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and at the UN Asia-Pacific Conference on Sustainable Development (APFSD) in February 2025 the three parties The three parties declared that they would jointly lead the preparation of a synergistic report for Asia and the Pacific, and the first meeting of the authors was held in Manila in July 2025. The report will be submitted to the 9th Session of the ESCAP United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (a quadrennial ministerial-level meeting) to be held in Bangkok in July 2026.
In this seminar, we will hear from people on the front lines of the business movement, a particularly important stakeholder, and connect it to the draft follow-up resolution on synergies and other issues at the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) to be held in December 2025.
Contents
In his opening remarks, Mr. Doi, Deputy Director for Global Environment, Ministry of the Environment, stressed the need to accelerate synergistic solutions to the triple global crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and expressed particular hope for the role of business.
Vice President Miyazaki described JICA’s efforts to achieve synergies in the field of development cooperation, noting the importance of deepening cooperation with international organizations and corporations.
Baharey, UNDESA Senior Officer, noted that synergies are essential in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and that collaboration between policy and business is key.
Hong Pen, chief of the mitigation team at UNEP’s Climate Change Department, said that integrating climate change measures with biodiversity conservation will enable more effective mitigation measures.
IGES Principal Synergies Coordinator Fujino provided background on the Asia-Pacific Synergies Report and introduced the roadmap for the 2026 ESCAP Ministerial Meeting.
Mr. Watanabe, Director of the Environment Division of ADB, reported on the progress of the report preparation and emphasized the importance of policy recommendations based on local case studies.
Kato Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. introduced its climate risk response and corporate culture transformation efforts in the insurance industry and emphasized the need to incorporate synergies into business models.
CEO Nagasawa Frutta Frutta presented Amazon’s business model through sustainable use of resources and said that companies should play a role in protecting natural capital. Norwegian fertilizer company.
Co-chairman Otsu O2Farm introduced a regenerative approach in the agricultural sector and suggested implementing synergies in collaboration with local communities.
During the plenary discussion, the speakers shared the common view that business should work with policy to accelerate innovative solutions to address the triple crisis.
Presentation by Deputy Director Miyazaki
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