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November 21, 2024
 

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Gernot Wagner
Activists wearing masks depicting then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau take part in a protest outside the COP25 U.N. climate change conference in Madrid in December 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2024
What does Trump’s victory mean for climate change?
Trump already levied a 25% tariff during his first presidency and it did nothing to help U.S. automakers prepare for the electric future.
The widespread adoption of renewable energy sources and implementation of energy efficiency are key to reducing emissions and, in turn, fueling economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2024
We need economic growth to avert a climate catastrophe
The degrowth movement doesn't offer solutions to tackle global warming. Not only are its proposals unrealistic, but they may not even be effective.
Climate protesters interrupt a campaign event for former U.S. President Donald Trump in Indianola, Iowa, on Jan. 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024
What would a Trump win mean for the climate?
Even if Trump wins and tries to take a wrecking ball to climate policies, he ultimately can't derail the renewables revolution gaining momentum in the U.S.
One way to cut the steel industry’s emissions is to recycle more iron and steel products than the world currently does.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2024
What steel decarbonization needs
One way to cut the industry's emissions is by recycling more iron and steel products than we currently do.
Michael Bloomberg, U.N. special envoy for climate ambition and solutions, speaks during a summit on methane and other greenhouse gases at COP28 in Dubai on Dec. 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2023
What did COP28 achieve?
With pledges to cut methane, among other achievements, COP28 may have helped reduce the costs of decarbonization — an essential stepping stone.
While there should be a balance between entrepreneurial innovation and environmental responsibility, pollution should be the primary concern, not economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2023
Embracing the green growth mindset
Some high-carbon economic activities need to shrink while low-carbon, high-efficiency sectors need to grow.
As long as coal plants are still operating, it is a good idea to make them capture their carbon dioxide emissions. But the sooner that coal is replaced by renewables, the better it will be for the planet.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2023
Carbon capture and the changing economics of power generation
Carbon capture policies could unwittingly extend the life of dirtier energy sources.
While the pace of deploying clean-energy solutions is faster than it has ever been, with climate change, the world overall is racing in the wrong direction.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023
What the climate fight is really about
Now that a future of higher average global temperatures is inevitable, managing the problem well requires that we cut off the tail end of the extreme-weather distribution.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2023
How to think about climate-tech solutions
To think that technology will save us from climate change invites the moral hazard. Whether new fixes create new problems has little to do with the fixes, and everything to do with us.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2023
Will the banking busts hurt clean tech?
Rather than impeding the clean-energy race, the collapse of the U.S. start-up community's go-to bank offers lessons for managing the public-private minuet that net-zero transition requires.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2023
Clean-energy goals and technological optimism
Speeding up the adoption of already proven and scalable technologies and exposing the many hidden costs associated with fossil fuels is a necessary clean-energy goal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2022
The high stakes of climate-risk accounting
Businesses and investors stand to make a lot of money if they properly navigate the new climate risk environment — yet we remain where we are.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2021
World needs to look at geoengineering to mitigate the effects of climate change
Whether people believe that solar geoengineering is dangerous, potentially useful, or both, they should support more careful, open and transparent research into the matter.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2021
Lawmakers need to do whatever it takes to price carbon
Most governments have followed the bedrock economic principle that a higher price for something leads to less of its quantity being demanded in the marketplace.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2021
Are economists to blame for climate inaction?
There are indeed inherent biases built into the very structure of the economics — confusing precision with 'rationality” might be among the most pernicious.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2016
Reflecting on a potential cure for warming
A technology called albedo modification, which boosts the reflectivity of the Earth's atmosphere, holds tremendous potential to cure climate change.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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