SeminarWednesday 20 March 2019
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Sustainable Development Goals: Japanese and UK approaches
Drinks reception: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Since their adoption by the United Nations in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been embraced with remarkable alacrity by the Japanese government and institutions, including notably Keidanren, the Japanese equivalent of the CBI. The Japanese Prime Minister has created a series of annual prizes for contributions to realising the goals both within and outside Japan, and leading Japanese companies have endorsed them as the foundation of their operating practices. The first speaker Fumie Imabayashi, who is in the UK on an SDG-related mission, explained the background to this remarkable phenomenon. She was followed by Dr Chris Anastasi who has over 30 years’ experience of encouraging longer-term strategic thinking on global development issues in several leading UK companies, as well as working with the UN.
To find out more about the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s Science Technology and Innovation for SDG activities please click here.
Presentation by Dr Chris Anastasi Presentation by Fumie ImabayashiAbout the contributors
Fumie Imabayashi
Fumie Imabayashi is Deputy Manager of Technology and Innovation for the SDGs at the Japan Science and Technology Agency. She joined this government agency after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2008, she was involved in launching a new research cooperation programme, the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development, the first international research collaboration programme between Japan and developing countries supported by official development aid. Since 2016, she has worked on the analysis and coordination of activities to harness science, technology and innovation for attaining the SDGs, including providing advice to the UN through presentations to its Science, Technology and Innovation Forum and the High Level Political Forum in New York and its Commission on Science and Technology for Development in Geneva.
Dr Chris Anastasi
Chris Anastasi has expert knowledge of the energy sector, climate change and other environmental issues, and the related issues of sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder engagement. He has led teams and acted as an adviser for major international energy companies in ENGIE, EDF Energy and Shell; he has also been an academic, first as Senior Lecturer at the University of York and then in a Visiting-Professor role at the University of Maastricht. Chris has been a member of a number of Panels, Advisory Boards, and Working Groups, supporting the work of Government Departments and industry bodies in the UK; he has also worked on a variety of projects with colleagues at the OECD, UNEP, the European Environment Agency, and the British Council. Most recently Chris has published a book titled Strategic Stakeholder Engagement, a practitioner’s guide on how organisations can best engage with government decision-makers and key influencers.
Professor David Cope
Professor David Cope (Chair) is a Foundation Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge and Commonwealth Scholarships Commissioner.