環境課題研究テーマ《予告》

Research Subject of Special Subject Research for Fiscal 2024 Grant

“Interdisciplinary research and/or international collaborative research to control the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as an urgent task for humanity.”

While the signs of the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic are finally recognized, we are still in a challenging situation, such as the crisis of global food and energy supply and increasingly frequent disasters due to severe weather. Especially, extreme weather phenomena worldwide are threatening a sustainable future, which was warned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying “the era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived.” The international community needs to work on controlling the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that causes global warming and climate change as a top priority.

This is a difficult problem that cannot be solved enough with just a single specialty because a wide range of aspects such as climate, ecosystem, society, economy and policy are intertwined. To understand these aspects comprehensively and integrate relevant information and insights, an interdisciplinary approach is essential. Experts in different fields must work together and grasp the problem from a comprehensive perspective. To mitigate the situation and build a sustainable future, various approaches based on scientific insights are needed, such as the spread of renewable energy, improvement of energy efficiency, promotion of sustainable agriculture and urban planning, promotion of carbon dioxide resourceization and storage, measures against greenhouse gases accelerated by permafrost melting due to global warming and forest fires, and utilization of carbon pricing. Furthermore, from the perspective of social implementation, it is essential to form a social consensus that takes into account legal, political, economic and social factors.

In this context, the Grant Program calls for creative and interdisciplinary research to control the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as an urgent task for humanity. If it is a world-wide issue or an issue related to certain overseas area, internationally cooperative research is expected. The Grant Program also welcomes not only natural scientific approach but human/social scientific approach which explores the change of human conducts and socio-economic system, or combined approach.