Chair’s Summary

Chair’s Summary
1. Introduction
The Global Environmental Action (GEA) International Conference 2013 entitled “Advancing from
Rio+20 toward a Sustainable Future: Economic Revitalization and Contribution to the International
Society through Green Economy” was held in Tokyo, Japan on 18 and 19 October, 2013.
The Conference was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess,and opened with the organizer’s address by Mr. Juro Saito, GEA Chairman, followed by an address
by HIH the Crown Prince and a guest address by Mr. Katsunobu Kato, Deputy Chief Cabinet
Secretary (on behalf of H.E. Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan). Ms. Wakako Hironaka, theDirector General of GEA, presided over the Conference as its Chair.
The conference was organised by the GEA, supported by the Government of Japan (the Ministryof Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and Ministry of the Environment)
and the United Nations University.
The objective of the Conference was to enhance high-level policy development in order to articulate
concrete measures to realise sustainable societies not only in Japan, but also in the international
community, capitalizing on Japan’s experience.

2. Opening of the ConferenceFirst of all, GEA Chairman, Mr. Juro Saito gave his opening speech. He stated that the global
environment is the basis for human survival, and that we need to prevent a crisis occurring bygathering human wisdom. He hoped that the two-day conference would bring guidance for a bright
future for humanity.
H.I.H. the Crown Prince then gave his opening address. He stated that each one of us needs to think
how to act towards the “future we want” that was agreed at Rio+20, and hoped that the outcome ofactive discussions at this conference towards a sustainable future would be disseminated to the world.
Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe, in his remarks read by Mr. Katsunobu Kato, Deputy Chief Cabinet
Secretary, stated that sustainable development should be promoted by individual steps such as the
Minamata Convention on Mercury. He also referred to the recent IPCC report and acknowledgedthat global warming is a real crisis that we must confront. He stated that Japan will deploy advanced
low-carbon technology and disseminate the low-carbon society toward achieving the goal to halve
the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. He further stated that there is no economic
growth without a rich environment, and that he hopes to build together with the people a future
where environmental technology and business drive economic growth.

10Mr. Yuan Tseh Lee, President of the International Council for Science (ICSU) then gave a keynote
speech. He warned that we should recognize that human activity already exceeds the planetary
boundary in terms of climate change and biodiversity loss, and pointed out that we must act now.
He presented the following five aspects of the pathway to global sustainability:
Global responses to global problems;
Back to nature, back to sunshine;
Live better for less;Control population explosion;
Improve equality around the world.
He introduced the activities of “Future Earth” as an initiative of the scientific community toward thetransformation for a sustainable future. He stated that Japan should create a visionary path towards
sustainability with advanced science and technology, and with traditional wisdom.

3. Thematic Sessions
In the thematic sessions, the facilitator of each session steered discussions based on the leadpresentations in accordance with the Programme of the Conference. Presentations and general
discussions are summarised as follows:(1) Session 1: Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)—Aiming for sustainable consumption and production in a world withlimited resources
Facilitator:
Arab Hoballah(Chief, Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, UNEP)
Lead-off Speakers:
Ryoichi Yamamoto(Specially-appointed professor at Tokyo City University / Visiting professor at International
Christian University / Honorary professor at the University of Tokyo / Honorary Chairpersonof the International Green Purchasing Network)
Michael Kuhndt(Head, Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSSP))

The environmentally acceptable limit and the current status of consumption and production● Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 of our planet. By the 2030s we will need theequivalent of two Earths.
● A variety of risks are anticipated: pollution, impacts on health and environment, climate change,degradation/depletion of resources, and food crisis.
● A wide range of natural resources is expected to be used up unless humanity changes its current
unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Human activities are causing the extinctionof other living species at a speed second only to the extinction of dinosaurs.
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Decoupling of economic activities and human well-being from resource use and environmental damages● Decoupling of economic activities and human well-being from resource use and environmental
damages is urgently required.
● We should attain “one-planet living” in the various aspects of our daily activities including food,housing, transportation, and others.
● While the world population continues to grow, merely “using less to provide more” is not enough.
Decoupling and resource efficiency requires “using less to provide more for more people.”● The involvement of different stakeholders is the key: international organizations, governments,
business companies, civil societies and consumers as well as academia have their opportunities
and responsibilities to enable sustainable development through efficiency and sustainability.
Systemic changes in our economy, society and values● “One-planet living” would be pursued not only through incremental efficiency in production
methods and knowledge, and by radical changes in products and services, but also throughsystemic changes in the society/economy as a whole through responsible and ethical behaviour anddecision-making processes. These systemic changes include the development and disseminationof new service-oriented business models, “co-creation” of sustainable technologies, and social
innovation by pilot-testing of sustainable lifestyles.
● Capitalism and mass consumption have spread all over the world. Measures need to be taken toencourage companies to balance performance and their fundamental responsibility to the society
while governments need to develop adequate regulations, and in all cases increase awareness andmake information available to the public.
● Instead of focusing only on economic efficiency, we should recall and highlight the traditional
value of “sufficiency.” Ideas for the future include “public-interest capitalism” and theestablishment of an “intergovernmental panel on ethics for ecological civilization.”● The lifestyles and values we have had could be revaluated in today’s context so as to movetowards “one-planet living.” In the context of the “Future we Want” we still need to create
visions for sustainable living at local, national, regional and international level.
● Change of lifestyles, business practices and value systems would be attained through various
initiatives including education, advertisement, public-private partnership, regulation andincentive schemes.
The initiatives of the United Nations● The 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)
aims to accelerate the shift to SCP in all countries. It supports policies for improving resource
efficiency, decoupling of economic development from resource use and environmental impacts,
as well as poverty eradication. It serves as an umbrella covering various initiatives to support
sustainability through SCP, including through capacity building, financial and technicalcooperation, and education and sustainable lifestyles. It also aims to function as a knowledge
platform to share policies, tools and best practices for SCP.
● Research and demonstrations on sustainable lifestyles have been developed; now is the time to
speed up and scale up implementation of change, making the link with policies and investments
to enable “one-planet living.” The 10YFP could be fully made use of in this respect by further
12implementing this programme as well as various related ones, in particular to contribute toclimate mitigation.

Japan’s role
● Japan should utilise its rich experiences of green public procurement, eco-products databases,
eco-label systems, product life cycle analysis and product design following “3Rs” to contribute to
the promotion of SCP worldwide. Japan should also play a leading role in enhancing sustainable
lifestyle and education in the framework of SCP.
● From the viewpoint of sustainable consumption and production, emphasis has been placed on“3Rs”. There has been much progress in “reducing” and “recycling”, but progress has been slow
in “reusing”, which is an area for increased attention.
● Japan could further develop environment education / education for sustainable development
particularly at the nursery stage and youth education curricula. By doing so it would serve asa precedent in the world and would allow Japan to lead by example towards environmental
education fit to individual situations in both developed and developing countries. It could also
help to support the education and creation of “One-Planet business models” in universities andsenior executive training.
● One third of the food produced in the world today is wasted. Commercial practices such as the“one-third rule” in Japan generate huge amounts of food loss. Measures need to be taken by
Japan and the international community to abolish similar unsustainable practices so as to increase
the quantity of food available to reduce poverty.

(2) Initiatives towards Sustainable Cities- Generation of new values for the promotion of green growth Chair:
Shuzo Murakami(President, Institute for Building Environmental and Energy Conservation)
Lead-off Speaker
Shigeru Inoue(Deputy General Manager, Area Planning Office, Mitsubishi Estate Co.,Ltd.)
Junya Kawai(General Manager, Kashiwanoha Campus City Project Development Planning Department,
Mitsui Fudosan Co.,Ltd.)
Bindu N. Lohani(Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Asian Development
Bank)

The role of cities
Population in cities is showing a remarkable increase, most of which is occurring in developing
countries or emerging economies. In Asia, it is predicted that about 1.1 billion people will moveto city areas over the coming 20 years, or 120 thousand people per day. 80% of GDP is produced13

in cities with intensive use of resources and increased waste generation. USD 30 to 40 trillion will
be invested in cities over the next 20 years. In addition to improving the urban environment underpopulation concentration stress, it is essential to create new values in cities. Sustainable development
would not be possible without creating cities that have environmental, social and economic values.

Creation of new values● How can we achieve a good balance for urban investments in economy, society and environment?
● Enhanced values of cities require innovative perspectives for town development. It is essential to
make the transformation from a mere geographical concentration of people and goods to a nodeof communication to facilitate the creation of knowledge and values.
● From the viewpoint of environmental values, assessment and verification of the environmental
improvement is essential. By disclosing the effectiveness of environmental improvements, we canpropose models of cities with high environmental values. Japan should develop various menus withdifferent models and provide appropriate options to address different problems and situations in the world.
● Cities with high environmental values require additional cost for maintenance. How should weshare the cost of the area-management? We need to consider a new type of area-management
based on public-private partnership, which can be promoted by guidance by the government.
● We have developed element technologies so far. For further value creation in cites, we also needa management ability and socio-political basis that can integrate those technologies. This should
be realized in particular through the enhancement of resource efficiency and sufficiency.
Examples of city development achieving three values● In Kitakyushu city, after its experience of severe environmental pollution, the environment improved as the
economy grew. The city created environmental values by CO2 reduction through urban energy generationand energy saving, and conservation of green areas. It also created social values such as enhancing a senseof solidarity through activities for the environmental conservation. It further created economic values by thecreation of environmental and medical business and enlargement of job opportunities.
● Kashiwanoha Campus City aims for a harmonized relationship between people and nature,enhancement of health and longevity, creation of a community with mutual assistance,and creation of new businesses. Public, business and academic sectors cooperate to pursue
city development including the identification of issues, suggestions for solution models,
implementation of projects, and verification of effectiveness. It also pursues a resilient city using
full-scale introduction of a smart-grid, an area energy management system and the enhancementof disaster prevention functions.
● The redevelopment of Dai-Maru-Yu area at the center of Tokyo took an innovative approachof “successive redevelopment”, which relocated tenants one after another. Some attempts suchas creation of pocket parks and organization of various events contributed to the vitalization ofthis area. In order to promote innovation, it also developed the facilities to encourage businessmatching relevant to environmental issues and to provide more recreational opportunities.
Situations and problems in Asian cities and Japan’s role
● The current high levels of environmental stress in cities including climate change mean that the“grow first and clean up later” attitude is no longer an option in Asia. Core to the transformation is14

a new emphasis on the need for an integrated planning approach to the provision of infrastructureand services and other public goods, provided by results-orientated urban management systems.
● In the face of climate change, improvement in existing buildings and infrastructures, andinvestments in new climate resilient infrastructure are two major issues. In one way, much of theenergy and water efficiency improvement can be done through retrofitting existing buildings andfixing the water systems. In another way, building integrated multi-modal transport systems will
make urban mobility more efficient and low-carbon.
● In addition to being green and smart, cities should be inclusive and competitive. We haveto reduce vulnerability, improve the community’s quality of life, and expand livelihood
opportunities in an integrated manner. Also, we need to foster employment opportunities,
particularly in respect of logistics, and major infrastructure for industry.
● By sharing experiences of overcoming urban issues, knowledge could be accumulated andutilized for problem solutions (knowledge solutions). Many Asian cities can investigate
opportunities to “leapfrog” to achieve sustainability and vitality.
● Instead of focusing merely on the role of cities, the role of agriculture should be reevaluatedin the context of resilient cities, with the proximity of food production and consumption
contributing to addressing climate change and food security.
● Japan has faced and dealt with various urban problems ahead of other countries, which will sooner
or later also face these universal problems. The problem-solving concept such as “eco-model
cities/ future cities” can be shared internationally through common experiences among cities.

(3) S ustainable Energy for All—Aiming for social reforms that bring about multi-benefits—
Session Chair :Kazuhiko Takeuchi(Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University (UNU)/ Director, UNU Institute for
Sustainability and Peace)
Lead-off speeches : (15 min. each)
François-Xavier Lienhart(President of Mag-Isover K. K.)
Leena Srivastava(Executive Director (Operations), the Energy Resources Institute (TERI)/Vice Chancellor,
TERI University)

Sustainable Energy● Today 20% of the world’s total population lacks access to electricity and 40% use fuels such as
firewood, coal, and animal manure for cooking. Energy is vital for human development, and lackof access to modern energy sources is a cause of issues including health, poverty, human rights,
equity, and other social development problems.
● On the other hand, a rapid increase in energy demand may increase GHG emissions. Realizationof clean energy development can address the problems brought by lack of energy access and15advance sustainable development while reducing GHG emissions.
● The key to realizing sustainable energy is improvement in energy efficiency and deploymentof renewable energy. ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ was launched by the UN Secretary Generaland aims to ensure access to modern energy services, as well as to double the rate of energy
efficiency and the share of renewable energy. These objectives have close linkages with eachother, connected to climate change issues.
● Sustainable energy can help improve health, poverty and social development issues, and at thesame time can contribute to building low-carbon societies. To realize this, it is important toutilize market mechanisms, communicate with multi-stakeholders, and enhance education.

Energy Access in Developing Countries● Energy access closely relates to socio-economic issues such as urbanization and population
inflow. It would be very challenging to ensure energy access given that the global population will
increase by 40% by 2050.
● The perspective of equity is important when it comes to energy access. In India, there are hundredsof millions of people living under one tenth of the world average of energy consumption.
Improvement in Energy Efficiency● The more we reduce energy demand, the fewer the issues and problems associated with energy
are. Reducing energy demand brings about a number of benefits such as reduction in energy costs
and CO2 emissions, as well as creation of jobs. Reduction in energy consumption is the cheapest
and cleanest energy, and therefore energy efficiency plays a key role.
● Buildings account for about 30% of total energy consumption in most industrialized countries. In
particular, the amount of energy consumption in buildings in Japan has increased 2.5-fold from1973 to 2010. There is a significant potential in reducing energy consumption by improving theinsulating performance of buildings.
● There are a number of policy measures to tackle energy efficiency issues in buildings. In France,
for instance, the visualization of energy efficiency of houses is mandated and serves as anincentive for purchasing energy-efficient houses. Both regulations and economic incentives suchas tax reduction are crucial.
● Raising awareness through education and information dissemination is important.
● Although progress in renovating existing buildings to increase energy efficiency has been slow
in Japan, it would be a feasible and effective measure to make it obligatory to improve insulation
performance when seismic retrofitting of buildings is implemented, with economic incentives.
Renewable Energy and Sustainable Energy Supply● Although renewable energy has some challenges such as the grid integration and ancillarysystem, not only does it contribute to building low carbon society but also improve energy accessas well as resiliency for disasters as it is decentralized energy.
● Japan can play an important role in supporting developing countries to realize low carbon society
through technology transfer and funding for renewable energy deployment.
● We should invest more in research and development, and in deployment for low-carbon technology
including solar power and hydrogen. Thereby developing countries can obtain clean and sustainable16

energy bypassing the way paved by developed countries. While carbon capture and storage is also
important technology, we should assess associated issues such as costs and risks. Also, utilization of
nuclear power should be assessed from various perspectives including cost and safety.

(4) S cience and Technology that Support Green Economy—A future bringing out innovations in technology and thinking—
Chair:
Itaru Yasui(President, National Institution of Technology and Evaluation/ Vice-Rector Emeritus,
United Nations University/ Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo)
Lead-off Speaker:
Takashi Onishi(President, Science Council of Japan/ Guest Professor, Graduate School of Media Governance,
Keio University/ Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo)
Dave Griggs(Chief Executive Officer, Climate Works Australia/ Director, Monash Sustainability Institute/
Professor, Monash University)

Overview of the 21st century● While the world population will continue to increase, Africa is the most urgent region to address
this issue, as the birth rate in Asia is expected to start decreasing after 2050. Not only the
population itself but also people’s standard of living and demographic compositions should beconsidered on a global scale.
● The risk of climate change and subsequent impacts on biodiversity will reach a critical stage.
Annual CO2 emissions per capita by the year of 2050 need to be limited to under 1.1 tons C, evenwhen limiting the rise in global temperature within 2.5 degrees Celsius.
● It is not expected that fossil fuels and food will be critically in deficit. Food production, however,will be affected by climate change, which will make some regions inappropriate for agricultural
production. Prediction on sufficient food is based on the assumption that we can seek appropriate
lands for agriculture and the global system can properly distribute food on a global scale.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)● Global Sustainability Objectives (GSOs), from the viewpoint of planetary boundaries, include
maintaining a stable climate system by limiting global temperature increases to no more than 2
C, reducing the rate of global biodiversity loss, safeguarding ecosystem services from criticalbiomes, maintaining the capacity of the global hydrological cycle to provide freshwater,
maintaining well-functioning nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, maintaining clean air for healthand regional environments.
● Simultaneous targeting of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as North-South issues and
GSOs as global environmental problems represents inter-linkage between policy and science, andcreates a connection between local issues and global problems. International initiatives such as
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Future Earth are important in this regard.
● SDGs need to be a combination of MDGs and GSOs, which cover six areas, namely, thriving
lives and livelihoods, sustainable food security, security of sustainable water, universal clean
energy, healthy and productive ecosystems and governance for sustainable societies.
● Contribution from human science including philosophy and religions is important, given that theconcept of peace and security is one of the most important elements of sustainable development.
Therefore, to revive significant attempts for environmental problems such as carbon pricing,global discussion in the field of political science will be essential.

Environmental measures through proliferation and innovation of technologies● Japanese government formulated an Innovation Plan for Environmental Energy Technology,
which includes the aim of halving global GHGs emissions by 2050 through dissemination ofand improvement in existing technologies as well as innovation of new technologies. A phased
approach is applied in this plan, namely, existing technologies will be primarily utilized, followed
by innovative technologies such as artificial photosynthesis and superconductive electricaltransmission after 2030.
● Kitakyushu City is one of the most active municipalities to build up a low-carbon society.
The city is planning the development of an advanced low-carbon zone with several measures
including fully electrified apartments, solar energy use in car sharing, solar heat use in hospitals
and passive use of nature. Kitakyushu also tackles CO2 emissions reduction overseas even morethan those emitted from its own area by sharing experiences and knowledge with Asian cities. In
doing so, mutual communication and exchange between cities is essential.
● The idea of co-creation of appropriate technologies is important, when introducing Japanesetechnologies to overseas countries. It will be one effective option to develop international
standards or other agreements regarding these technologies, taking into consideration thattechnologies vary widely from products to infrastructures. Regarding the introduction of more
efficient production facilities, financial support will also be required.
Geo-engineering● Facing simultaneous uncertainties such as climate and political risks, it is necessary to prepare
for the planetary urgency. We could have two options: one is to promote environmental measures
taking into account the notion of planetary boundary, and the other is to enhance adaptive
management through geo-engineering.
● Geo-engineering may be technically feasible, but we do not have enough information to consider
all the side effects and to assess its full risks. It is problematic that there is no authority to control
attempts of geo-engineering. International governance for sustainable development needs to beestablished.
Innovation of thinking● For promoting saving energy without compromising satisfaction, we need to foster a philosophy of“necessary amount of necessary service when and where necessary”. If we can feel self-satisfactionand environmental contribution simultaneously, this can be expressed as ethical practice.
● Awareness raising activities for the general public is vital for disseminating innovative18

technologies. Showcasing non-mass-consumption type life-style is also important to attract people.

Promotion through policy● The technologies which should be introduced by 2030 are at the practical level. To further improve
technologies and reduce costs, dissemination across society needs to be accelerated through policies.
● It will be required to clarify the future trends of global policy frameworks, such as carbon
pricing, which can be the basis for innovation of technologies to be introduced by 2050.

(5) I nitiatives for Greening of Markets—Promotion of green investment and market development to build the future—
Moderator:
Takejiro Sueyoshi(Special Advisor, Finance Initiative, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP))
Lead-off speaker:
Yoshihiro Fujii(Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Sophia University)
Paul Ekins(Professor, Resources and Environmental Policy/ Director, UCL Institute for Sustainable
Resource/ Director of Research, School of Energy and Resources at UCL)

Greening of Markets● Green economy relates to the whole economy. The whole economy needs to be fundamentally
greened, but not limited to partial green sectors.
● Emerging environmental risks such as climate change and biodiversity loss imply the needto change the economic system towards a sustainable and green economy. In doing so,
environmental factors need to be brought to the mainstream of markets.
● It is envisioned that investment becomes green and profitable so that the green economy starts
revolving by its own market power.
Roles of Markets and Public Policies● To enhance market power for providing money to environment, government has a pivotal role toplay in public-private partnerships (PPP).
● A green economy cannot be realized only by market power. Appropriate public policies are necessary,
including environmental tax reform, infrastructure investment and enhanced policy credibility.
Environmental Finance● The key function of finance is to direct capital flow to the area where it is needed. There are twomeanings of ‘value’ i.e. an amount of money, and what we believe in, and both these should be
integrated into decisions on finance and investment.
● Environmental finance has a key role in greening markets, taking into account the inflexibility of
public finance in many countries and the possibility of global financial markets as international
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public goods. Governments should spend money on the environment rather than on defense.
● Environment can be a factor which determines investment performance. Finance is already changing
globally towards green investment, which takes into account non-financial factors including
environment, in addition to financial factors. Environmental finance in Japan should be expanded.
● It is required to accelerate corporate reporting so that investors can evaluate environmental
performance of corporations properly. It is important to promote integrated reporting of financial
factors and non-financial factors including the environment.
● In order to mobilise environmental finance, international agreements and balanced regulations foreach country are vital. Based on these, ratings and certifications by third parties and environmental
finance using financial tools can be promoted. Markets are required to clarify environmental risks
and returns.
● To mainstream green investment, the contents of fiduciary duty which has previously focused on
maximizing financial return needs to change to the one that includes non-financial factors such asenvironment. This change has already started and needs to be accelerated further.
● Environmental finance based on public-private partnership, such as the Green Investment Bankin the UK, has been promoted in each country.
● In Japan, efforts toward mobilizing environmental finance have been made including
collaboration among financial institutions in formulating “Principles for financial action towards
a sustainable society”, as well as the launch of the Green Fund under the Environment Minister’s“Finance Initiative to Build a Low-Carbon Society”.
● Mobilizing private financial resources is a common challenge for international society on thepath to a low-carbon society. Exchanging experiences and views would be beneficial to scalingup green finance at both the global and domestic levels.
● It is necessary to establish international rules which do not allow the finance sector to chasea profit by destroying the environment. Japan can show leadership in international society by
pursuing this.

Public Policies to Support Greening Markets● A new knowledge infrastructure is needed to make the physical/material and energetic basis of
the economy as transparent as its monetary basis. These include national accounts and natural
capital accounting, corporate reporting, as well as consumer information and labeling. Japan ispositioned to take the lead in internationally promoting these issues.
● Government can play a more active role in driving eco-innovation through a new kind ofindustrial policy and direct innovation processes in the economy. Innovation provides incentives
for investment.
● In addition to ‘hard’ infrastructure, ‘soft’ infrastructure including public policies and operation
are vital so that the environment will become mainstreamed in markets.
● It is important to slow down or prevent the process whereby resources or materials become wastematerials that need to be managed.
● Macro-economy policy is critical, where the core ingredients are environmental taxes and fiscal
reform to reduce labor and capital taxes; green stimulus spending for investment; and enhanced
credibility and direction on public policy. In order to accelerate these actions, forming a coalitionof the willing among countries toward introducing carbon pricing would be effective.
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● Innovations have occurred in Japan due to the world’s highest energy and material prices, which
led to the world highest energy and resource efficiency. Japan can take the lead in green economy
by embedding these in the green economy context.

4. Wrap-up session
Discussions at the thematic sessions were presented and endorsed as summarised in the preceding
sections. Key points of the discussion at the meeting as a whole are outlined below:● Current consumption and production patterns are not sustainable. Transformational changes in
economy, society and values are needed in view of the planetary boundaries. The UN 10 Year
Framework Programme for Sustainable Consumption and Production is an important tool for
promoting concrete measures toward sustainable lifestyles.
● As the world heads for urbanization, city development needs to address new environmental,social and economic values. Support for environmental infrastructure and city management
is needed to enable leapfrog development in which developing countries do not repeat theunsustainable development path.
● Reduction of energy use is the cheapest and cleanest energy source. With the decentralized
nature of renewable energy, it can contribute to decarbonization, energy access and resilience indeveloping countries.
● Linkage of science and policy is critical in the development and implementation of the
Sustainable Development Goals. Dissemination and innovation of sustainable technologies
require a viewpoint of co-creation of appropriate technologies with developing countries.
● The role of environmental finance is to direct capital flow to the place where it is needed to build
a sustainable future. Concrete measures should be promoted such as green funds, corporate
environmental reporting and carbon pricing.
It was agreed that the outcomes of the conference would be widely shared at various international
conferences, including the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC (COP) and “the High-Level
Political Forum for Sustainable Development”.

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