On 17 February, the EU-Japan Centre organized a hybrid seminar on “Accelerating the clean transition in the EU and Japan”. The event was held at the Europa House of the EU Delegation in Tokyo.

With Manuel Hubert, Managing Director - EU side of the EU-Japan Centre as the emcee, the seminar opened with remarks by Jean-Eric Paquet, Ambassador of the European Union to Japan, who also graced the event. The seminar continued with a keynote speech delivered by Kurt Vandenberghe, Director-General of the European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Actions, followed by his Japanese counterpart, Takahiro Tajiri, Deputy Director-General for Green Transformation Policy at METI, and by Hirotoshi Uehara, Operational Excellence Quality & Environment Lead Executive Officer at Panasonic, who delivered a presentation as a panelist. Multiple aspects were discussed: green transition as an economic and security imperative; the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal; the EU-Japan cooperation at the COP29; the Japan's Emissions Trading System; the introduction of the GX Surcharge; the price stabilization mechanism; the innovations in supply chains & urban infrastructure to enhance energy efficiency. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session moderated by Yasuo Tanabe, Managing Director - Japan side of the EU-Japan Centre, with active and insightful discussions and interactions among participants. The event was a great success with 458 participants in total, onsite and online combined. The results of the after-event survey also showed a high level of satisfaction rate among participants (95.1%).