Sleeping Financial Giants Public Symposium
On March 5, 2019 at the public symposium that was held at The University of Tokyo, about 50 participants joined from various backgrounds such as academia, civil society, and the media. Participants were there to hear talks about climate science and how finance factors into the ‘sleeping giants’ – Earth System’s critical ecosystems that have tipping points.
What is the Sleeping Financial Giants Initiative?
The Royal Swedish Academy* and The Stockholm Resilience Center (Stockholm University), together with Future Earth, aim to build a scientific research base and dialogue platform for the sustainability of the Earth by encouraging cooperation between the Earth System and finance sector. Recognizing the opportunity of Professors Will Steffen and others to come to Japan, we held lectures and workshops for the first time in Asia, starting dialogue and collaboration between the academic and finance sectors.
* The Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere programme (GEDB) at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Sponsors: Vinnova, Futura Foundation, the Erling-Persson Family Foundation, and Mistra
Co-organizers: University of Tokyo Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)
Event Summary
Sleeping Financial Giants Public Symposium(PDF)
Program
| 15:30 – 15:35 | Opening Remarks Fumiko Kasuga, Global Hub Director, Tokyo Hub, Future Earth |
| 15:35 – 16:00 | Director, Center for Global Environment Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies “Why we talk about Global Sustainability – a climate scientist’s perspective” Presentation slides(PDF) |
| 16:00 – 16:35 | Will Steffen, Emeritus Prof., Australian National University The Anthropocene: Where on Earth are We Going? Presentation slides(PDF) |
| 16:35 – 17:00 | Victor Galaz, Deputy Director, Associate Prof., Stockholm Resilience Center Big Money, Big Change? How Big Finance Shapes the Earth system |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Q&A |