In Kanazawa City, a comprehensive vision known as the Kanazawa Future Scenario has been developed through the collection of ideas from many individuals aimed at promoting the SDGs. To put this vision into practice, the IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 Partners Exchange Meeting was held in January and February, where participants brought forward their challenges and initiatives in hopes of fostering new projects through dialogue.
This year marks the seventh meeting, and in total, it was the ninth gathering. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the meetings were held online, but we hope to return to in-person events once the trend of infection subsides, allowing ideas to flourish.
During Exchange Meeting #8 & #9, the following organizations delivered pitch presentations:
Exchange Meeting #8 Presenting Organizations (held on 2022/1/27)
PADAYON, General Incorporated Association
Discussed projects aimed at simultaneously addressing issues in developing countries and local community challenges.
E.N.N. Co., Ltd.
Focused on countermeasures for vacant houses and vacant buildings.
Exchange Meeting #9 Presenting Organization (held on 2022/0226)
Visst Co., Ltd.
Discussed employment support for those in need.
Additionally, the Exchange Meeting #9 reflected on activities from the past year and engaged in discussions on how to further develop the gatherings.
At this event, we had the opportunity to hear in-depth about the unique and pioneering initiatives from each organization, fostering connections that could lead to new partnerships and projects.
Each organization shared details about their activities and the challenges they are facing:
PADAYON, General Incorporated Association is a social startup engaged in addressing social issues in both Japan and the Philippines through impact investing, a method of social investment. The name “Padayon” means “Let’s do it together” in the local language of the Philippines, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the process of community and people building together.
Through connections with families from the Philippines, they encountered employment issues faced by the middle generation struggling to find work. As a result, they aimed to create an ecosystem of social investment that contributes to Kanazawa while providing a platform for Filipinos to utilize their skills. They have formed partnerships with companies in Kanazawa that want to contribute to the SDGs, expand overseas sales channels, and address labor shortages. They are running an impact investment project to provide rental spaces for small businesses in the Philippines and offer job opportunities and learning experiences for locals. This is just one example, as the actual matching process between companies in Kanazawa and those in the Philippines is handled on an individual consultation basis. They also conduct donation projects to directly support food supplies to the Philippines.
E.N.N. Co., Ltd. operates as a social design company that centers on architecture and aims to help find, plan, create, and effectively utilize spaces to build “towns and cities.” With the increasing number of vacant houses and buildings in Kanazawa, they sought to bring awareness to these social issues and presented their initiative.
Compared to Western countries, Japan has a significantly advantageous new housing market, with around one million new homes built each year. However, with the population remaining stagnant, the number of vacant houses and buildings continues to increase. In Kanazawa City, efforts are underway to preserve and utilize wooden buildings such as Kanazawa Townhouses, which were built before 1950. Unfortunately, these buildings are slowly being demolished, leading to an increase in vacancies and the deterioration of the townscape, along with concerns about carbon dioxide emissions from building dismantlement. To address these problems, E.N.N. Co., Ltd. offers investigative services through their “Old Building Research Room” and “Wooden Building Research Room” to assess nearby used buildings and wooden structures.
At the conclusion of Exchange Meeting #8, Hokuriku ESD Promotion Consortium was introduced. Established in 2014 with Kanazawa University as the secretariat, this consortium aims to promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to achieve the SDGs. They shared information about the outdoor educational activities for children in hospital classes at Kanazawa University Hospital.
Many of the children in hospital classes require long-term hospitalization and, because of infection control, many cannot go outside. As a result, they find it challenging to learn through outdoor activities like nature observation. However, due to advancements in filming and communication equipment, it has become possible to enjoy stargazing remotely. Therefore, in 2021, the Hokuriku ESD Promotion Consortium collaborated with the Kanazawa City Kigo Mountain Fureai Training Center and the Kanaboshi-kai (astronomy club) to conduct multiple online stargazing sessions that children could enjoy from inside the hospital. Going forward, they would like to expand these activities beyond stargazing to include museum visits, social observations, and more, tailored to the children’s needs.
In Exchange Meeting #9, Visst Co., Ltd. spoke about their management philosophy of providing hope for work to everyone, particularly focusing on employment support for individuals with disabilities or others who may face challenges in the job market. During the pitch presentation, they shared their initiatives and challenges related to employment support for those in need. Visst Co., Ltd. has been facilitating the “Employment Preparation Support Project for Welfare Recipients and Individuals in Need” commissioned by Kanazawa City, encouraging participation in everyday, social, and work contexts for “welfare recipients” and “individuals in need.” In Kanazawa City, there are about 4,000 welfare recipients and nearly ten times that number of individuals in need, a situation exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19.
As part of their support, Visst Co., Ltd. helps improve interpersonal skills and self-esteem through work experiences and volunteer opportunities, aimed at ensuring individuals can live independently in society. However, securing organizations willing to cooperate as host sites can sometimes be challenging. During volunteer activities, staff from Visst Co., Ltd. accompany participants to ensure smooth operations and are actively seeking organizations to collaborate with.
Both Exchange Meetings #8 and #9 showcased diverse challenges from various organizations. It was a valuable opportunity to learn about the situation in Kanazawa City, and the discussions sparked new ideas and exchanges. I hope that the IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 Partners Exchange Meeting continues to expand partnerships and gives rise to new projects.
Sustainable Development Goal 7 is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. Although we nominally understand that it is good to choose renewable energy, instead of energy derived from fossil fuel, it might be challenging to take concrete actions to realise it.
Against this backdrop, at the 14th SDGs Café we discussed local production and consumption of energy in the Hokuriku region. We invited two experts, Mr. Shinichiro Nagahara and Mr. Akira Taniguchi. Mr. Nagahara is from Kanazawa Civil Power Stations, an organisation that operates solar power stations and a wind power station invested in by groups of citizens in Ishikawa. Mr. Akira Taniguchi is from Ohisama Shinpo Energy, a company that promotes renewable energy and energy-saving business. They introduced the good practices of citizen-owned power plants in Japan.
This SDGs Café consisted of four sessions. First, Ms. Mikiko Nagai, Office Manager of OUIK, gave an opening greeting and introduction to the webinar. Secondly, Mr. Nagahara gave a presentation, titled “Achieving sustainable society through the power of citizens! The case of Kanazawa Civil Power Stations”, introducing the activities of his organisation. Thirdly, Mr. Taniguchi gave a presentation, titled “Local production and consumption through renewable energy to enrich communities”, introducing examples of the renewable energy sector’s efforts in Japan, specifically the Hokuriku region, and Germany, as well as the case of Iida City, Nagano Prefecture. Finally, a panel discussion was held with Ms. Nagai and the two experts to discuss the business models of citizen-owned power plants, their equipment, and their policies. The panel also made comments on the system of renewable energy service delivery in Kanazawa city.
Mr. Nagahara defines the civil power station as a system in which individual citizens and local communities invest, build, and operate renewable energy projects by themselves to achieve local production and consumption of energy in the region. The idea was widespread in Japan in 2012 when the law for the feed-in-tariff was brought into effect in Japan.
After visiting Denmark in 2005 to learn about their wind power plant systems, more than 80 per cent of which are owned by local co-operatives, Mr. Nagahara decided to start a project to construct a wind power plant in Ishikawa. The investment from citizens covered around 300 million of the 500 million Japanese yen needed for its construction costs. Through his experiences with the project, he recognised that the citizens’ consciousness is essential to proceed with environmentally friendly city development.
Since then, he has developed some renewable energy plants in Ishikawa, from solar power energy plants to a woody biomass power plant. Mr. Nagahara hopes that Kanazawa will become an environmentally friendly city resilient to disasters thanks to the spread of zero-energy houses by 2030. A zero-energy house is a housing energy system where the produced energy becomes higher than the primary energy consumption by combining energy saving, renewable energy production, and energy storage, contributing to greenhouse gas reduction. Mr. Nagahara concluded that the primary purpose of his addressing environmental problems is to contribute to the prevention of global warming, and that zero-energy houses are reasonable solutions to it.
Mr. Taniguchi said that Japan should produce more biomass energy, as it is rich in biomass, referring to the example of Sweden, where a company supplies heat by delivering hot water derived from biomass fuel. Also, referring to the case of Germany, where individuals and farmers’ investments occupy almost 60 percent of the total installed capacity in renewable energy, Mr. Taniguchi claimed that citizens’ participation is essential to spread renewable energy. He also mentioned that notably, commercial motivation encourages citizens to invest.
Mr. Taniguchi also introduced the case of the citizen-owned power plant in Iida City, where a company procures and installs solar power panels using a fund financed by citizens from all over Japan. The company sells the produced power directly to the facilities with the installed solar panels. The fund was paid off in 15 years. The project was made possible due to the longer term and the exceptional purchase price in the power purchase agreement shrewdly decided by the Iida City administration. Another benefit is that the solar power projects contribute to revitalising the regional economy, as research forecasts that the potential accumulation of economic value added to the region through the project will reach 1.7 billion Japanese yen by 2030. Mr. Taniguchi emphasised that the most crucial step was to produce energy helpful for the region by themselves with the support of the municipal government and local regulations.
Finally, a panel discussion was held with Ms. Nagai, Mr. Nagahara and Mr. Taniguchi to discuss the issues related to local production and consumption of energy. The panel raised several interesting points as discussion topics.
Concerning the conflict of interest between citizen-owned power plants and large electricity companies, one of the answers was that the relationship is not like competitors, but rather like business partners when citizen-owned power plants sell a small amount of electricity. To the question of how large electricity companies’ business models will change when zero-energy houses are widespread, large electricity companies can still keep seven-tenths of the electricity market as the electricity for industrial use occupies around 70 percent.
Also, obstacles to proceeding with policies to allow installing solar panels on roofs of public facilities were discussed. Such policies have not yet been promoted in Ishikawa Prefecture and Kanazawa City, while Iida City has already advanced such policies. It is uncommon for public facilities to lease their roofs for solar power to electricity providers in some municipalities, and even in cases where the installation of panels is allowed, with the initial cost being double the ordinary price, it becomes a burden to the municipalities. As such, it is crucial to develop a partnership model with the private sector.
Lastly, the panel discussed Kanazawa City’s decision to request a private company to operate a hydropower plant and a gas power plant owned by the city, as the hydropower plant operates financially healthily while the gas power plant struggles. The panel pointed out that the hydropower plant should be operated over a long period without being bound by immediate profits, as citizens of Kanazawa City might be proud of its existence in the city. Also, the importance of the philosophy of the operation and the sustainability of operating organisations was pointed out.
At many UN meetings on the matter, it has been said that local municipalities have a vital role to play in achieving the SDGs, to the point that of the 169 targets of the SDGs, 65% are estimated to be difficult to achieve without the participation of local municipalities. At this webinar, we discussed what kinds of initiatives should be undertaken at a municipal level in order to encourage transparency in municipal administration and cooperation and participation from citizens regarding setting and monitoring indicators for the SDGs.
First, representing Kanazawa City, the event’s co-sponsor, Yukiyoshi Yamano (Mayor of Kanazawa City) gave an opening speech. “In terms of governance, I think even simple daily tasks will effectively contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. In order to maintain motivation, I think it is important to create an environment in which it is easy to see the progress made towards our targets. Each municipality needs to have achievement targets and monitoring systems that are appropriate for them, and which are publicized in a way that allows citizens and partners to see the progress made as well. It is vital to maintain mutual understanding as we advance our efforts,” Yamano opined.
The first keynote lecture was given by sustainability and regional revitalization researcher Shun Kawakubo (Associate Professor, Hosei University, Faculty of Engineering and Design, Department of Architecture) on the topic of “Local SDGs Promotion and the Significance of Target-Based Monitoring.”
To support local municipalities, Kawakubo is developing a local SDGs platform in order to make the status of local SDGs initiatives more visible. The platform also includes interview articles from the municipalities and ways to share and announce new initiatives. While he encouraged the municipalities to utilize the platform, he also emphasized how vital it is to proactively involve the citizens when establishing SDGs indicators that reflect the current status of progress made, saying, “It’s important for citizens to have the awareness that the SDGs are an issue close to their hometown, and to encourage them to incorporate working towards the goals in their everyday lives.”
The second keynote lecture was given by Kenichiro Fukushima (Board Representative, Code for Kanazawa/Civic Tech Japan) on the topic of “Citizen Participation Through Technology: What is Open Governance?”, in which he discussed using open governance and civic technology to implement local SDGs, monitor indicators, and encourage citizen participation.
Fukushima explained that because it is best to have citizens participate in the process of monitoring and gathering indicator data, it is vital to have transparency in government work and create a society that allows citizens to participate; in other words, it is important to create a framework of open governance. He went on to say, “Municipalities must consider to what extent they are able to utilize technology within the scope of their limitations, and to keep an open mind as they encourage citizens’ participation. It is also important that the citizens understand and proactively promote use of the IT and other technological aspects of the initiatives, participate in the community, and cooperate with government efforts. It’s important that both sides continue to share their mindset with each other.”
Next, Masayuki Yamamoto (Head of Policy Promotion Division, Policy Strategy Department of Kaga City) introduced Kaga City’s smart SDGs initiative. Kaga is a city known for its traditional crafts, famous hot spring resorts, and tourist spots, but it is also a city faced with structural issues such as a lack of human resources as a result of depopulation, and a decentralized, multipolar city structure. As such, they are aiming to become a smart city by using advanced technology to promote innovation and become a more sustainable city. As part of their initiatives to work towards becoming a smart city, they are considering incorporating a variety of technological tools and systems as solutions to everyday problems, including drones, MaaS, avatars, and e-residency. Additionally, as part of their “Kaga City RE100 (100% Renewable Energy)” initiative, they are aiming to construct a carbon-free society and locally produce energy for local use.
Finally, UNU-OUIK Office Manager Nagai moderated a panel discussion in which a variety of ideas and opinions were expressed, including the following:
o It is important for governments to explain the various functions of the SDGs when cooperating with citizens and to utilize them together
o It is important for the divisions in charge within government bodies to coordinate and gather resources
o Local SDGs platforms might be used to exchange information and opinions
o Measuring, monitoring, and analysis of indicators might be split up between governments, academics, and the citizenry
o It might be good to promote the SDGs through fields that go beyond the scope of existing SDGs (culture, art, sports etc.)
The theme of the 13th SDGs Café was “All Citizens Should be Gardeners! Thinking about the Kanazawa SDGs from a Green Infrastructure* Perspective.”
*What is green infrastructure? Green infrastructure refers to land use planning with the goal of creating a sustainable society by re-evaluating nature from a multi-functional perspective.
In 1968, Kanazawa City was the first in the nation to establish a Traditional Environment Protection Law, which stipulated that green spaces and canals within the city must be protected alongside traditional samurai houses, temples, and shrines as part of Kanazawa’s historical cityscape. These preservation efforts continue to this day, and the goal of creating and utilizing green infrastructure is explicitly included in the Kanazawa Future Visions presented earlier this year.
Our guest this time was UNU-OUIK Research Associate Juan Pastor Ivars who has lived in Japan for 11 years since coming from Spain to research traditional Japanese gardens in Kyoto and Kanazawa. Juan aims to develop his research in a way that is rooted in the local region by cooperating with citizens to think about the future of Kanazawa City.
Since 2010, Kanazawa’s population has been declining, while the number of unoccupied homes continues to rise, and the amount of natural space gradually dwindles. In the Kanazawa of 2030 that Juan imagines, unoccupied homes and parking lots would be replaced with green infrastructure, and in order to continue to protect that greenery he proposes that all citizens become gardeners.
“Thanks to Kanazawa’s gardens, the city is rich in both ecological and cultural diversity. Intimate connections between people are balanced with intimate relationships with nature, and those relationships with nature in turn lead to happiness between people. Japanese gardens have all these benefits and more,” Juan explained.
The next guest to give us some ideas was green infrastructure expert, researcher, and publicist Takaaki Nishida (Associate Professor, Kyoto Sangyo University, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Industrial Life Sciences), who is involved in many different activities, including publishing collections of examples of a wide variety of green infrastructure projects both in Japan and overseas. First, Nishida explained the concept of green infrastructure, an idea that has yet to gain widespread recognition, as follows: “Green infrastructure is defined as a framework in which, rather than focusing solely on protecting nature, we seek to make use of its benefits to promote regional revitalization and prevent and reduce the effects of natural disasters. It’s a way of thinking in which the goal is to use nature’s inherent features to our advantage to benefit both the economy and society, which in turn results in nature becoming enriched as well.”
Next, he introduced several examples of efforts to revitalize unused land with greenery currently being undertaken around the world. He argued that there are many places in Japan where similar projects could be done, saying “For example, finding ways to utilize spaces like abandoned homes or parking lots is an important point. It is also important to engage in discussions and balance the risks and merits of these projects.”Finally, Office Manager Nagai closed the webinar, saying “I hope those who participated today will continue to promote green infrastructure going forward and cooperate with efforts to implement it in Kanazawa in the future.”
On December 18, for the fifth time in 2021, and the seventh time overall, a Partners Meeting was held in Kanazawa. Three organisations, Yaku-yaku Renkei SDGs Kanazawa, Zweigen Kanazawa and the nonprofit organisation Nitto, gave short presentations and shared their concerns. There were more than 20 participants.
Yaku-yaku Renkei SDGs Kanazawa is an organisation of pharmacists and other people involved in the field of pharmaceuticals, which is working to achieve SDGs through Yaku-yaku Renkei. Places such as pharmacies, where medications are prepared for patients, produce a lot of plastic garbage every day. A lot of that garbage is packaging made of a variety of plastics, including polyethylene and polypropylene. With plastic garbage being a problem all over the world, Yaku-yaku Renkei SDGs Kanazawa is reflecting on workplace conditions and considering what the solution could be. For example, they are wondering if the garbage could be recycled as fibers such as polyester and used to make clothing and other products. They are also wondering if the sales profits could be donated to support developing countries. With the cooperation of specialists in resource recycling, they would like to solve the problem of plastic garbage.
Zweigen Kanazawa, the city’s J-League soccer club, is strengthening collaborative activities to benefit society.For example, this year, they held food drives社in cooperation with Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company and Ishikawa Food Bank Network. Zweigen Kanazawa’s vision is to develop a local tradition of connecting with communities to take on challenges that will lead to many innovations.
Lastly, the nonprofit organisation Nitto shared issues related to the goal of creating a society in which people with dementia can lead worry-free lives, as well as issues faced by patients with dementia and their support organisations. Nitto provides services to support dementia patients in their daily lives. With the high rate of dementia among the elderly, if society continues to age at the same rate, it is predicted that by 2050, one in 10 people will have dementia. It is necessary to think about how to create a “sustainable” society in which people with dementia will have peace of mind, and in which people will be able to support one another.
There is a lot of misunderstanding and prejudice with regard to dementia patients; discriminatory remarks and casual comments can make the person with dementia and their friends and family lose confidence, and the fact that this makes life difficult is also an issue. Moreover, when it comes to nursing and healthcare services for these patients, because they are treated poorly and they are not valued by society, there is a shortage of people aspiring to become caregivers, especially young people.
After the short presentations, participants were divided into three discussion groups. Each organisation was asked for more details about its situation, and ideas for solving problems were shared. Many ideas were shared by each group. It would be wonderful for these discussions to lead to new forms of cooperation and collaborative projects in view of realising the goals of Kanazawa Future Visions.
IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 Partnersis a platform for putting into practice Kanazawa Future Visions through partnerships. On November 22nd, for the fourth time in fiscal 2021, and for the sixth time overall, a Partners Meeting was held in Kanazawa. At the Partners Meetings, the participants present projects that they would like to carry out in cooperation with partners, as well as topics that they would like to consider with all of the members. The presentations are followed by discussions.
This time, the meeting started with the Kanazawa Traffic Affairs Section providing information about the city’s public transportation. Participants were told about the plan to take advantage of public transportation in order to use the limited road spaces of Kanazawa effectively, and transform them into people-oriented spaces. They were also told about the importance of reducing environmental impact through the use of public transportation. Moreover, in order to promote good health and effective use of time, the city would like partner companies to adopt eco-commuting.
Next, two organisations gave short presentations. The general incorporated association HOLA’s presentation was about “CSV urban development based on DX” and Kanazawa City Planning and Coordination Section’s presentation was about “Indicators for measuring the success of Kanazawa Future Visions”
HOLA is an organisation that has adopted the CSV（Creating Shared Value）ideology, and is working to promote city planning in areas such as the environment, human rights and child-rearing, through the use of DX (Digital Transformation). Currently, in Kahoku City, it is supporting the management of local sports clubs from a business perspective, as they are facing difficulties due to the aging of their members and decreasing membership. Through theHOLA official LINE account,を HOLA provides information with places where citizens, businesses and local sports clubs are connected, and is promoting ideas for using the revenue earned to promote sports.
A talk was given by Kanazawa City Planning and Coordination Section, which is also the secretariat of the IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 project, on indicators for measuring the success of “Kanazawa Future Visions” and “Sustainable Tourism Promotion”,which are currently under consideration. So far, Kanazawa City has established “Kanazawa SDGs 5 Courses of Action” as the city’s unique policy for the promotion of SDGs, as well as its plan of action, “Kanazawa Future Visions”. Also, Kanazawa was selected as a “SDGs Future City” and a “Municipal SDGs Model Project”for fiscal year 2020, under a scheme of the Government of Japan. It drew up the “Kanazawa SDGs Future City Plan” and is promoting the model project “Promotion of sustainable tourism in harmony with citizens’ lives.” As there were no indicators for measuring the success of SDG promotion or sustainable tourism promotion, the promotion council for IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 started to consider ideas for indicators during the last fiscal year. However, the promotion of SDGs requires sharing the goals with a variety of organisations. At this meeting, the participants said they wanted ideas for indicators that each of them could use, and ideas about different points of view to take into account when considering Kanazawa’s future.
After the short presentations, participants were divided into two discussion groups. They asked the presenters questions and talked about how they could provide support. Then, each group shared what had been said with all of the participants.
As part of a special project, we collaborated with high school students who run a seminar series to hold a two-week collaborative seminar series titled “SDGs and High School Students: The Future of Schools and Learning.” The first seminar’s theme was “Let’s Discuss the Future of Schools and Learning from the Ground Up.” First, event planner and facilitator Kohei Sendai (Kanazawa University Senior High School, 2nd Year) explained the idea behind the seminar, saying “In the past, a uniform style of education was sought after, but in modern times diverse and global individuals and education that develops students’ individuality are in demand. With that in mind, we planned this seminar to discuss the future of learning.”
Satoshi Kimura, a Coordinator of the Noto High School Improvement Project, provided us with topics to discuss. The Project works to connect schools with the surrounding region to address issues caused by depopulation in Noto Town through various efforts, such as: increasing the number of students advancing to high school within the town to ensure the continued existence of the high schools and promote their development; and realizing and supporting student’s desired future paths. “In order to address problems that schools can’t solve by themselves, I think it may become increasingly important in the future to involve the surrounding region and local authorities by creating a system in which a coordinator is assigned to keep things moving forward,” Kimura stated.
We then moved on to breakout sessions to do group work and discuss the ideal style of education and the kind of schools that would be able to implement it. Participants shared their opinions that education should support students’ interests, and that instead of requiring only intellectual learning schools should also help advance students’ skills in order to establish their identities.
The next week, we held the second part of the seminar with the theme of “How are Other Prefectures and Countries Thinking about Education? Let’s Examine Precedents and Discuss.” Masako Shirakami (Kurashi Create Representative and NPO Ask Net Advisor), who works as a career education coordinator to connect schools and local regions, provided us with topics of discussion. First, she taught us about the Career Bridge program, which is in high demand from high school teachers, where students can experience both a day at college and a day working at a company. She concluded by saying, “Considering the all-important SDGs pledge of ‘No One Left Behind’, it’s important that we think about what kind of education and schools are best for meeting each individual’s aspirations and life goals.”
During the group work many valuable opinions were shared. One such opinion was that rather than listing up many examples of successful attempts, it may be more productive to examine examples of failures in order to analyze what cause them to fail. Another point that was brought up by Sendai, both of our guests, and many of the participants was how important it is to have people from outside the school get involved in the school’s activities.
The SDGs Cafe#12 had the theme of “Thinking about Establishing ESG Investment in Kanazawa in the Age of Corona.” ESG* Investment has the potential to create solutions for a variety of societal problems involving nature, the environment, and working people’s lives while also supporting sustainable economic growth. We thought about what our region could do during this moment in history when momentum for societal reform is growing in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
*What is ESG? ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance.
Our guest this time was Masakazu Shijimaya, 6th generation owner and managing director of Shijimaya Honpo, a long-established shop selling traditional fermented foods in Kanazawa. He undertakes a variety of initiatives such as running workshops that inform younger generations of the benefits of koji malt and fermented goods and collaborating with groups promoting healthy business management to extoll the benefits of fermented goods. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, he is currently running the workshops online. Unexpectedly, it has become an opportunity to share his products with people who previously would have had little interest in his company’s flagship products like kabura sushi.
Shijimaya imagined how the ideal Kanazawa of 2030 might look and made the following 3 suggestions:
Promoting connections and cooperation both within and without the region will revitalize the city
We will be able to convey the charm of Kanazawa’s culture as it lives on in the daily lives of its citizens
People taking part in a variety of projects will be able to develop themselves sustainably
Next, Kenji Fuma, CEO of Neural, Inc., shared some of his ideas with us. According to him, ESG investment is intimately related to the SDGs, and the view that ESG initiatives are vital for sustainable business growth is spreading quickly. He stated that among the ESG points institutional investors check in publicly listed companies, while Environment is relatively simple (CO2 emissions, water problems, and waste matter), Social and Governance cover a much broader range of themes. “A wide variety of categories are all evaluated based on fixed quantities, so publicization of company information will be important for both ESG investment and the SDGs in the future,” he continued. He went on to say, “Institutional investors and banks buy many municipal bonds, thus supporting Kanazawa’s public finance. In other words, how much Kanazawa can improve with regards to ESG in the future will become an important point when issuing municipal bonds.”
Finally, he said “When Kanazawa makes an action plan for the SDGs, I would suggest setting target values. It is vital to first evaluate and gain a numerical understanding of the current situation when setting future goals.” He then continued to say, “Ideally I would like to realize a situation where the primary actors are the business leaders who are able to cooperate with governments, financial institutions, and NPOs.”
The SUN Project conducts research activities aimed at restoring nature within urban areas and enhancing regional resilience and adaptability. As part of this research, since spring of this year, a three-year biodiversity survey has been carried out to examine the roles that water channels and Japanese gardens within Kanazawa City play in supporting biodiversity.
With the first half of this year’s survey completed across various gardens, including spring, summer, and early autumn investigations, OUIK held an interim report meeting on October 20th. Approximately 20 participants—including Kanazawa City officials, garden owners, and experts—were invited to discuss preliminary findings.
In Kanazawa City, where rich natural environments and historic cultural assets coexist, gardens serve as vital green infrastructure symbolizing the harmony between the city’s social and natural systems. However, due to multiple factors such as population decline, some gardens face challenges in maintenance and management. Consequently, there is a risk that the natural benefits they provide—such as supporting biodiversity, fostering human-nature connections, and contributing to climate change mitigation—may diminish. To explore sustainable ways to manage these gardens in the future, we are first assessing which species currently inhabit them.
Through our surveys, we have identified various rare species, invasive species, and other organisms living within the gardens. Some of these species are thought to have entered the gardens via water channels or surrounding forests. During the meeting, participants exchanged ideas on how to coordinate maintenance and management efforts involving gardens and water systems, as well as strategies to address the threats posed by invasive species while protecting rare species. This year, surveys will continue into November and the winter season. Once all surveys for the year are completed, we plan to compile and analyze the results to better understand the current state of biodiversity within the gardens.
In order to promote sustainable development as laid out by the United Nations, as well as the associated 17 goals, it is important to measure the degree of attainment of those goals and to monitor the progress achieved in our region. On October 16, an IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 meeting was held for the purpose of generating ideas for an SDG attainment index. Twenty-five citizens of Kanazawa participated in the meeting.
As outlined above, when we draw up a plan to execute SDGs based on regional circumstances and proceed with a project based on that plan, it is important to measure the results (output) and effect (outcome). In this workshop, we held a discussion with community members about the Kanazawa of the future and possible indices for measuring SDG attainment.
Six topics were set for the discussion. Five of these were taken from “Kanazawa Future Visions” and the other one was “Sustainable Tourism,” the theme of the Municipal SDGs Model Project. Participants talked about issues such as how the Kanazawa of 2030 could be “a city that is old yet new, and comfortable to live in,” and the type of index that would be suitable for monitoring the situation of the city. Brainstorming about the types of indices needed to monitor progress was carried out in groups, and ideas were presented by participants who have been involved in activities contributing to the realisation of “A City Without Waste”.
Although it seemed to be difficult for participants to bring concrete ideas for indices to the table, a variety of ideas for how Kanazawa should be in 2030 were presented during the workshop. There were ideas related to learning and business, such as interaction between students and community members, and designating places for such interaction, as well as support for people launching a business, lifelong learning and recurrent education. Other ideas included the establishment of an environment that would enable artists and curators to grow, and ideas related to diversity and inclusiveness, such as the fostering of open-mindedness with regard to minorities, and ideas related to partnerships, such as the sharing of ideas with regional organisations and tourism enterprises.
In response to these ideas, setting quantitative indices such as the number of places for interaction between students and community members, and the number of schools offering lifelong learning and recurrent education, will enable quantitative measurement and monitoring of SDG attainment.
What kind of individual index do you set for yourself to attain the SDGs in Kanazawa?
At previous IMAGINE KANAZAWA 2030 meetings, ideas for indices to measure the attainment of SDGs according to the five “Kanazawa Future Visions” and “Sustainable Tourism” of the Municipal SDGs Model Project had been considered. In response to the ideas presented in this workshop, we will review the draft of our indices and release revised indices that can be used by everyone. We will continue to create an environment in which SGDs can be attained through partnerships.
