Following the signature of the EU-Japan Green Alliance in May, and coming 10 days before the COP 26 Conference in Glasgow, the Symposium Green Horizons, Sustainable Futures: EU and Japan Research for Climate-Prepared, Resilient Societies will illustrate the leading role played by the EU and Japan in the implementation of a global zero-carbon agenda. It will allow in-depth exchanges on the policies and latest research carried out in the EU and Japan in the interconnected fields of climate economics, technological innovations and SSH.

Jointly organised by Kobe University Brussels and the VUB, in partnership with the University of Kent, the event will take place at the VUB Conference Centre on 20 October 2021.

Parallel sessions, followed by workshops and brokerage events, will focus on key themes including:

• Climate economics: Towards a Global Green Economy (including impacts of WTO and UN climate commitments; and addressing the twin global crisis of Covid19 and Climate Change)
• Climate technologies: Emerging Breakthroughs for Climate Solutions (including the latest advances in climate science; and key technological innovations for decarbonisation, clean transport and alternatives energies)
• Social sciences and governance: Enabling Resilient, Climate-Prepared Societies (including global social impacts of climate change; and local innovations to fight global warming)

Forty speakers will include senior EC officials (DG RTD Deputy Director General Signe Ratso and DG CLIMA Director Elina Bardram), industry representatives (Energy UK, Shell Global, Toyota Europe), think-tank experts (Chatham House, Brussels Diplomatic Academy), and leading researchers from Japan, UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. Prof. Paulo Ferrão, Director of the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon University, and Member of the Horizon Europe Mission Board Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities will give the keynote speech.

The symposium will be followed on the next day (21 October) by an online workshop and brokerage event on New Opportunities for EU-Japan Research and Innovation Cooperation. Jointly organised by Kobe University and the VUB, and supported by Waseda and Kansaï Universities and the UniLiON network of universities, this interactive event will focus on new funding opportunities for R&I cooperation in both Europe and Japan. It will include presentations of projects and funding mechanisms, testimonials from EU and Japanese partners, and partnership-building in response to Horizon Europe calls.