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Monday, August 26, 2024 | The Japan Times | 7

sustainable japan

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produced by The Japan Times CubeThomas Brodbeck helps network on science, innovation, environment

From Bonstetten
to Tokyo

No comfort zone for Swisscommerce chamber’s head
Name: Thomas Brodbeck

Title: President of the SCCIJURL: https://sccij.jp/Hometown: Bonstetten, Switzerland
Years in Japan: 5Leaders & Readers
WARREN MEEHANCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Growing up in the small Swiss town of Bonstetten, on the outskirts of Zurich, ThomasBrodbeck — now the president of theSwiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry
in Japan and head of technical services at
the Swiss construction chemical company
Sika Japan — was always concerned aboutnature. “That’s the great thing about growing up in a small country like Switzerland— you can live in a small town totally surrounded by nature but still be just 15 minutes’ drive to Zurich city center,” he said.
Concerned about products being misleadingly advertised as environmentally friendly
and the prospect of greenwashing, Brodbeck
completed a degree in business administration and economics with a thesis examining
whether consumers are really willing to pay
more for products with lower emissions ofcarbon dioxide. “Twenty years ago, all theproducts were marketed as ‘green,’” he said,“but from my perspective, most of themwere not any different from what they were
two years earlier. The term was overused,and people didn’t really care that it was. So
today, of course, it’s totally different, but I
wanted to investigate why.”
Brodbeck worked for Sika in the global

automotive aftermarket, dealing with windshield replacements. “As the windscreen isa safety-relevant part, it’s connected to thefunctionality of the airbags to keep you safe
inside the car, so there was a lot of training needed,” he said. “But I’d been at it for 10years, and I wanted to grow and challenge
myself, and so I needed to step out of mycomfort zone.”His opportunity arrived in 2019 when Sika
offered him a role as a business development manager in Japan. Arriving just before
the pandemic and knowing little about thecountry, he had just enough time to set up a
network of contacts and friends and get settled before the office was shut down for twoyears. “Japan was never on my radar,” he said.
“I think that was a good element, as I didn’t
arrive with any opinions — I just thought it
was a safe place to live and probably a goodplace to work — so there was less chance ofbeing disappointed.”
Despite the challenge of working online,
Brodbeck got off to a flying start, quickly getting promoted to head of technical service,where, working with a team, he oversaw
the integration of five companies into one
and watched as Sika Japan grew from 180
employees to over a thousand in the spaceof five years. “You can imagine there’s a lot ofchange management, bringing five companies together, so this was probably a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to support this kindof project.”Wanting a new challenge and a chance tobuild his business and friend networks, Brodbeck joined the board of the Swiss Chamberof Commerce and Industry in Japan, found it
was a great place to get valuable advice from
Swiss working in Japan, and rose to become

its president. “For me, being the president of
the chamber gave me so much exposure todifferent industries, which was once again
getting out of my comfort zone, leaving mybubble and learning something new.”With the Swiss Chamber of Commerce
mainly acting as a networking platform,
Brodbeck sees it partly as giving local companies an opportunity to learn more about
environmental and sustainability best practices from Europe, and Switzerland in particular, an issue that he has commonly faced in
his role at Sika, as Japanese firms often needto comply with foreign environmental regulations when dealing with overseas markets.
“We hold regular luncheons at the chamberwhere we try to bring in Japanese and Swiss
speakers for certain topics,” he said. “We talkabout science, innovation, environment,
and we try to have an educational approach
about these industries to share information
on best practices, which hopefully maketheir way into some of the companies.”
Brodbeck considers the chamber’smonthly luncheons to be its most interesting events, citing a recent example where
they invited a Keio University professor togive a presentation on mental health, andthey paired it with a presentation from theAdecco recruiting firm on their nonprofit
open-source international mental healthapproach. They also recently held an eventwith a Tokyo University professor and aSwiss Ph.D. student introducing their workon developing artificial brain cells and how
they communicate. “It was a good insighton the collaboration, the innovation and thetype of research where Japan and Switzerland can work together — and we offer aplatform where we can share this informa-Times Gallery

Thomas Brodbeck was born in Bonstetten, Switzerland, and completed
an apprenticeship as a chemistry lab
engineer at Sika Technology in the Altstetten quarter of Zurich before studying for a bachelor of science in businessdegree with a major in marketing at
the University of Applied Sciences andArts of Southern Switzerland. Brodbeck spent over a decade specializing in the automotive aftermarket atSika, overseeing safety in windshieldreplacement applications. He thentook an offer to move to Sika Japan in
2019, taking up the position of businessdevelopment in Japan and aftermarket
coach for the Southeast Asian market,
but then quickly moving into the newposition of integration manager, overseeing the integration of five separate
companies into Sika Japan.
Today he is head of technical services, and has held the position since2022. Also in 2022, he joined the Executive Committee of the Swiss Chamberof Commerce and Industry in Japan,
and was elected to the presidency ofthe organization one year later. Brodbeck also sits on the board of the European Business Council and is involvedin the Japan Swiss Society.
COSUFItion to our members.”
Brodbeck believes stepping out of his comfort zone and finding balance are the key towhat keeps him inspired and motivated inlife. “The key is to leave your comfort zone,
try your best, bring in your expertise, butalso respect the local culture to find the balance to do what makes you at the end happyand successful,” he said. “I was very scared toleave the small country town I came from,but looking back, I have no regrets at all. The
first step is always the most difficult one.”
Brodbeck and his colleagues at the Swiss
Chamber of Commerce will be kept busy
over the next few months, with what

On the occasion ofMaldives Independence Day, Rep. Yuko
Obuchi visits theembassy.
EMBASSY OF THE
REPUBLIC OFMALDIVES

Haitian Ambassador Watson Denis (rear center) poses with visitingJapanese students accompanied by professors at the embassy on Aug. 1.
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF HAITIThe Indonesian team parades through the center of the Miyagi city ofKesennuma wearing a variety of traditional costumes during the Aug.
3-4 Minato Matsuri. EMBASSY OF INDONESIA

business networks.
For now, Brodbeck expects to be fullycommitted to the current project he is working on at Sika. “There’s still a long way togo, and so that’s my only horizon for now,”
he said. However, as a former manager at aSwiss ski shop in the Alps for two seasons
during college, he hopes to get some time out
over winter to visit some Japanese ski resorts“for some of that great-quality snow.” He still
remembers an importantmanagement lesson helearned from that ski shop
experience: “You need agood story to tell, and you
need to be honest.”

Nissay Asset’s CEO discusses
sustainability trendsetters
Sustainable Japan Award:
ESG Excellence Award

The Embassy of Mexico hosts a farewell for Austrian Ambassador
Elisabeth Bertagnoli, celebrating her successful tenure and wishing her
the best in her future endeavors. EMBASSY OF MEXICO

Brodbeck assures us will be a ‘full pipelineof events.’ With the Switzerland Japan Economic Forum soon to be held in partnershipwith the Swiss Embassy, Brodbeck is anticipating that this year’s premier networking
event will be centered on the topic of biodiversity, and they are expecting a high levelof participation from C-level executives fromacross the spectrum. They will also be holding their “Swiss Young Professionals event,”billed as an opportunity to connect young
Swiss change makers with established business professionals in an effort to bring themout of the student environment and givethem a chance to build up their career andCommemorating the 199th anniversary of Bolivia’s independence.
EMBASSY OF BOLIVIA

The charge d’affairesof Cuba, Dairon
Ojeda, participatesin the closing ceremony of theHamanako-Cuba
Hemingway Cup,
presenting a special
bottle of the Cuban
rum White Marlin tothe winning team.
EMBASSY OF CUBA

Almost 80 participants enjoy the American Chamber of Commerce inJapan Chubu Chapter’s summer networking event “Bottoms Up” onAug. 2 in Nagoya. ANDY BOONEHIROKO NAKATACONTRIBUTING WRITER

Can investors contribute to addressingglobal issues and still seek a financial returnat the same time? The answer is yes, if you
catch major social trends, said Hiroshi Ozeki,
the president and chief executive officer for
Nissay Asset Management Corp.
“If an issue is important in global megatrends, there is a social demand for solving
the problem and therefore a need to makeit business,” Ozeki said. It is not enough toinvest in companies that are doing something good for society. More critical is tofind social issue-oriented businesses thatcan generate profits, and then support themthrough investment. “That is an important
point in being able to maintain sustainable
investment,” he said. Last year, Nissay AssetManagement won the Sustainable JapanESG Excellence Award, hosted by The JapanTimes.
Megatrends are major movements thatare expected to influence the world for along time — climate change, technologicalevolution like generative AI, aging societies,
human rights and global divisions between
superpowers.
“When you invest for the long term, if you
pick something that is part of a megatrend,
that will be eventually lifted by a rising tide,”
he continued. “On the other hand, if the business runs against a megatrend, even a very
attractive company could see its businessdisrupted by technological development orburdened with huge costs in responding to
an issue.”Along with taking a bird’s-eye view, inves-

tors also need an eagle eye for the development of specific products and services
related to rising trends. “As for impact funds
aiming to mitigate global warming, technologies keep evolving over time, and the growing businesses that you should invest in arechanging. That’s why you must be very careful” about trends, Ozeki said.
Take energy usage as an example of how
to hunt for promising business. Although
how much carbon reduction companies
achieve or how much renewable energy
they introduce always draws attention, it ismore valuable to look at their supply chain,think about which aspect of its energy —generation, transmission, storage or utilization — will have the strongest impact on agreener society, and then search for companies developing effective technologies foreach. “In that way, it is possible to find a company that can contribute well to responding
to climate change,” Ozeki said.
Another important factor for achieving
both a social impact and a financial returnis to check if the company’s technology isstable and scalable — ideas and trials alone
don’t bring a return on investment. Similarly, even if a technology is outstanding, if it
applies only to an extremely small market
or for example lacks overseas customers, it
likely won’t bring much of a return.
Therefore, to judge a technology, productor service, it is important to be responsive torapidly changing global trends. “It dependson the timing whether the technology gains
a spotlight, gets into practical use or develops
with scalability. So we want to make ourantennae go up all the time,” Ozeki said.
For example, hydrogen power used to beminor due to scarce infrastructure. But now it
has become an important part of managing
variability in the supply of renewables suchas wind and solar power. Also, new tech-“Sustainabilityinvestment willcontinue,” Ozeki
said, despite opposition in some quarters in the U.S.

The Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Center has opened the “Rubik
80x50” exhibition to honor the inventor Erno Rubik’s 80th birthday
and the cube’s 50th anniversary. EMBASSY OF HUNGARYCOSUFIPAGE: 7

Hiroshi Ozeki, president and chief executive
officer for Nissay Asset COSUFI

nologies including direct air capture (DAC),
which removes carbon dioxide from theatmosphere, may have a positive outlook asthey evolve, he said.
To be responsive to the latest trends intechnology, Nissay Asset has a team thatcreates analyses and networks with global
groups such as PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment), a U.N.-supported networkof investors that works to incorporate ESG
into sustainable investment, and AIGCC (theAsia Investor Group on Climate Change), aninitiative to encourage action among Asian
asset owners and asset managers.
To evaluate business values, Ozeki wants
companies to disclose their related information, and says there is no need to disclose
information that is irrelevant to those values. “I want corporate leaders to think about
whether their responses to climate change,
human capital and nature capital are related
to their materiality in their corporate values,”he said, adding that they must also consider
whether the issues provide them with corporate risks or opportunities.
At the end of the interview, Ozeki said theglobal trend of ESG is not going backward
even though there is opposition against it
in parts of the United States. “Since it is necessary, and also since some people feel its
advantages because it creates new jobs, sustainability investment will continue,” he said.
The Sustainable Japan Award commends
individuals, companies and organizations
who have made advances in sustainability
efforts. To learn more, scan the QR code orvisit https://sustainable.japantimes.com/
sjaward2024