The 3nd Symposium of UTLCA was held on Wednesday, October 8th at the ENEOS Hall, Komaba II Campus, the University of Tokyo. Nearly 120 participants attended the in-person event.

At the symposium, Professor Ichiro Daigo explained UTLCA’s approach to “Life Cycle Thinking in the Age of Transformation,” followed by three presentations. “Will Green Consumers/Human Resources Leading to Social Change Emerge from Japan?” by Professor Misuzu Asari, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature; “Global Decarbonization of Steel and Resource Recycling” by Toshio Isohara, Nippon Steel Corporation; and “Building an Ammonia Value Chain for a Decarbonized Society” by Nobuhiko Kubota, IHI Corporation. Next, regarding Pre-emptive LCA Social Cooperation Research Department, Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Ni Jialing explained “Future Scenario Design Initiatives,” followed by a panel discussion on “Cross-Industry Future Strategy Planning” chaired by Specially Appointed Professor Satoshi Ohara and featuring five participating companies. Finally, Director Masakazu Sugiyama closed the event by expressing expectations for UTLCA’s work on Pre-emptive LCA contributing to designing future societies and calling for further industry-academia collaboration. Active discussions continued during the subsequent networking session with the speakers.

UTLCA aims to establish the academic principles and implement in society a “Pre-emptive LCA” that contributes to formulating strategies for the future of society. In the second phase starting next year, we will advance research by further deepening collaboration among industry, government, and academia, centered on the Pre-emptive LCA Social Collaboration Research Division.