Activities
Research
Leveraging Co-benefits for a Healthy Net-Zero Transitions in Japanese and other G7 Cities: A Scalable Approach for Transformative Change (2023-2026)
IGES (Japan), Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP), Hokkaido University, Kyushu University, ICLEI Japan, University of Texas at Austin, The Woodrow Wilson Center, Laboratory for Sciences of Climate and Environment (France), Local governments in Kawasaki, Hachinohe, and Niigata, Paris, and Austin
This transdisciplinary project focuses on integrating health and related co-benefits into climate planning. The project works with selected local governments in Japan, and parts of that approach will be then adapted to Paris, France, and Austin, United States.
More detail
Even as G7 countries pledge moderately stronger climate policies, lingering ambition and implementation gaps threaten the achievement of the Paris Agreement's 1.5 °C goals. Integrating health co-benefits into climate planning can help bridge these gaps. While the consideration of co-benefits is important for all levels of administration, robust evidence on potential co-benefits (like what would be the impact of a climate mitigation project on air quality or job creation) could potentially stimulate concrete actions locally. However, the local governments often face a tension between the willingness to use and capacity to generate evidence of these benefits. In light of that, this three-year transdisciplinary project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, aims to help local governments in Japan, France, and the United States reflect health co-benefits in their climate planning.
Strengthening synergies and eliminating trade-offs for transformation to achieve the SDGs (2024-2027)
Keio University, IGES, National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan)
This project explores synergies and trade-offs among SDG goals, with a focus on socio-environmental issues, and develops relevant decision support tools/good cases for use by governments and municipalities, or strategic use by companies—aiming to universalise these solutions.
More detail
At the SDG Summit in September 2023, the importance of accelerating actions for enhancing the achievement of set goals and targets was emphasised, and for this purpose, the need to create synergies and resolve trade-offs was recognised. The global challenge of achieving the SDGs requires solutions in local contexts, but it is still difficult to universalise solutions based on localisation, as per the Global Report on Sustainable Development (GSDR) released by the United Nations. In light of that, this project investigates the synergies and trade-offs among the goals and targets of the SDGs, focusing on issues related to environmental problems, and present these as tools that can be used by governments and municipalities for policy purposes or by private companies for strategic purposes, while at the same time universalising the solutions and decision support tools to be presented domestically and internationally. This work is funded by the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency (ERCA) of Japan through the Suishinhi Project.
Actionable Research on Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) Model Development to Catalyse Local-to-Global Feedback Mechanisms for Post-2030 Agenda (2024-2025)
Central University of Rajasthan (India); VNIT (India); Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand), Ministry of Environment (Cambodia), Hachinohe City Government (Japan), Aomori Kenmin Energy, Hachinohe (Japan)
This project brings forward the CES model case development works in Asia, continuing the co-design approach with key stakeholders across different city-regions, and promoting action-oriented research, with emphasis on regional-level upscaling and replication of CES.
More detail
Leveraging the established foundation of CES activities in several city-regions across Asia, this project brings forward the ongoing CES model case development works in Asia, with emphasis on regional-level upscaling and replication of CES. The project activities continue the co-design approach with key stakeholders across different city-regions in Asia, and promote action-oriented research for impact generation towards sustainable development and climate actions. It also emphasises on strengthening the bottom-up feedback mechanisms from local-to-global level, especially considering the Post-2030 Agenda. This work is funded by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Strategic Research Fund, and is in line with the major directions of IGES’s Integrative Strategic Research Programme for the 9th Phase.
Developing Urban-Rural partnerships framework to mitigate climate-induced water availability impacts on Food, Energy and Water (FEW) security at regional level (2021-2024)
Keio University (Japan), IGES (Japan), VNIT (India), Central University of Rajasthan (India), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (Bangladesh)
This project focuses on co-developing actionable pathways to enhance food-energy-water security in selected areas of India (Nagpur) and Bangladesh (Gazipur), through evidence-based research on climate-induced water availability impacts.
More detail
Urban and rural areas are dynamic systems, functionally interlinked through their social and environmental settings. A variety of resources including food, energy and water flow between urban and rural areas. Against the growing population, rapid urbanisation and changing climate, regional level planning exercises in consideration to urban-rural linkages have become critical to maintain the environmental balance. In view of this, the goal of this project is generating evidence of climate change impacts at grass-root level. Intensive research is conducted in selected areas from India (Nagpur) and Bangladesh (Gazipur), with emphasis on collaborative research for developing pathways to enhance Food-Energy-Water (FEW) security through a trans-disciplinary approach. The climate-induced water availability impacts on FEW sectors are assessed based on qualitative and quantitative methods, and the supply-demand gaps are underlined. The project is funded by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN).
Applying Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) approach for carbon-neutral city-regions and rural revitalisation: Bridging local-to-global feedback loops for Post-2030 Agenda (2023-2024).
VNIT (India), Central University of Rajasthan (India), IIT Roorkee (India), Hachinohe City Government (Japan), Aomori Kenmin Energy, Hachinohe (Japan)
This project explores pathways for CES application towards carbon-neutral city-regions and rural revitalisation in Asia, while also strengthening feedback loops from local-to-global goal development, especially considering the Post-2030 Agenda.
More detail
Taking due cognisance of the current shortfalls in timely realisation of global goals, this project emphasises on accelerating the local actions, while also strengthening feedback loops from local-to-global goal development, especially considering the Post-2030 Agenda. Leveraging the established networks of the CES Asia Initiative, this project works on CES application towards carbon-neutral city-regions and rural revitalisation in Asia. Harnessing local renewable energy resources through driving urban-rural partnerships, the project lays emphasis on tapping the co-benefits of reduced emissions, clean energy supply, job creation, economic and rural revitalisation at regional level. Exploring the best practices, methodologies and land suitability assessments, the project highlights sustainable pathways for maximising land use efficiency and transitioning towards low-carbon city-regions. This work is funded by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Strategic Research Fund.
Ecosystem centric rural revitalisation: Bridging the urban-rural dichotomy toward post COVID resilient recovery (2021-2023)
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Central University of Rajasthan (India)
This collaborative project explores the potential of eco-system centric revitalisation of rural areas, in selected areas of Uttarakhand (India) and Kanagawa (Japan), through diversification of its economy toward decentralised growth in the post-COVID-19 era.
More detail
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic carried high economic and social costs across the urban-rural continuums. Economic slowdown in particular, affected millions of migrant workers who moved from rural to urban centres for a secured livelihood and were forced to return to their origin mostly due to sudden job loss. To analyze the economic and environmental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic induced reverse migration on the urban-rural continuum, this collaborative research focused on two industrial clusters in India namely, the Neemrana and Haridwar in India and Yokohama city, Hadano city, Manazuru town and Hakone town in Kanagawa Prefecture. The selection of diverse cases is aimed at investigating post-COVID recovery measures in contrasting settings and the potential for integrated revitalisation measures. Based on research investigation, the project demonstrates the pathways of eco-system centric revitalisation of rural areas through diversification of its economy toward decentralised growth in the post-COVID-19 era. The research is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and India's Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
Towards new paradigms in urban-rural linkages: fostering innovations for collective resilience through multi-stakeholder engagements (2018-2020)
Keio University (Japan), IGES (Japan), VNIT (India), University of Calcutta (India)
This project works to identify key sectors and role players to strengthen urban-rural partnerships and enable collective action for issues of shared concern, through collaborative research in selected areas of Nagpur (India) and in Kanagawa (Japan).
More detail
Urban and rural regions exist as interdependent entities connected through various spatial and sectoral flows of natural resources, people, finances, goods and services, etc. which are projected to get severely constrained under climate change scenarios and result in differential developmental patterns and intensified risks. In light of that, the project aims at introducing new paradigms for multi-stakeholder engagement to build collective resilience in urban-rural regions in both India and Japan. The main objective of the project is to find key sectors and role players to strengthen urban-rural partnerships and enable collective action for issues of shared concern. To achieve that, evidence-based collaborative research is conducted in Nagpur (India) while deriving policy lessons from selected good cases in Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. The research is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and India's Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
Applying Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) Concept for Localisation of Integrated Climate and Sustainable Development Actions (2022-2023)
VNIT (India), University of Indonesia (Indonesia), Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), AIT (Thailand), Keio University (Japan), Aomori Kenmin Energy, Hachinohe (Japan)
This project works on developing a framework for applying the circulating and ecological sphere towards advancing local level synergistic actions on net-zero and SDGs, with a focus on selected areas in Japan, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
More detail
Under the Integrative Strategic Research Programme for the 8th Phase, IGES recognised CES as a priority topic towards implementing actions for sustainability, and has been working together with its regional partners (the CES-Asia Consortium) to advance local-level research and capacity building on utilisation of CES approach in Asia. Under this project, case study based research is conducted in the selected city regions in Japan (Hachinohe, Aomori), South Asia (India and Bangladesh) and Southeast Asia (Thailand and Indonesia), to develop a framework for application of the circulating and ecological sphere to achieve net-zero and SDGs through local actions in an integrated manner. This work is funded by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Strategic Research Fund.
Building Urban-Rural Partnership for Resilient Future: Promoting Regional Circular and Ecological Sphere Concept for Sustainable Resource Management and Collective Resilience of Urban and Rural Regions in Nagpur Metropolitan Area (2019-2020)
VNIT (India), Keio University (Japan)
This project focuses on highlighting the rising resource needs of urban areas and explores sustainable resource management opportunities through the application of the Circular and Ecological Sphere (CES) concept, with a focus on selected areas from India and Japan.
More detail
With the rise in global population, rapid urbanisation, and industrial growth, the demand for natural resources such as food and water is steadily increasing. Although more than half of the world’s population now resides in urban areas, these essential resources are predominantly sourced from rural regions. This growing urban demand is placing immense pressure on natural systems, pushing them toward critical thresholds that, if not addressed, could lead to irreversible damage. To promote resilient and sustainable futures, it is essential to strengthen urban-rural partnerships. In this context, evidence-based research is carried out in selected areas of India and Japan to highlight the rising resource needs of urban areas and explore sustainable resource management opportunities through the application of the Circular and Ecological Sphere (CES) concept. This work is funded by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Strategic Research Fund.
Workshops
25-26 June 2025: Field surveys and community engagement in Ajmer (India)
Exploring Agrivoltaics Potential for Circulating and Ecological Sphere in Ajmer
19-20 June 2025: ASEAN Regional Workshop at Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) approach-based model for local decarbonisation and resource circulation: Exploring the prospects of ASEAN region
30 July 2024: Multi-stakeholder Workshop in Hachinohe (Japan)
Leveraging Co-benefits for A Healthy Net Zero Transition in Japan and Other G7 Countries
June 24, 2024: Stakeholder Workshop in Ajmer (India)
Advancing Agrivoltaics-based Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) approach for realizing synergistic localization of climate actions and sustainable development goals
March 22, 2024: Expert’s Consultation & Dissemination Workshop in Nagpur (India)
Co-designing Actionable Pathways to Mitigate Climate-induced Water Availability Impacts on Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) Security at the Regional Level
17-19 January 2024: CES Regional Workshop in Thailand
Leveraging co-benefits of Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) approach towards the integration of Climate and Sustainable Development Actions in Asian city-regions
December 20, 2023: International Workshop at Keio University, Japan
Developing Urban-Rural partnerships framework to mitigate climate-induced water availability impacts on Food, Energy and Water (FEW) security at regional level
14 June, 2023: Co-development Workshop in Nagpur, India
Applying the Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) Concept for Localization of Integrated Climate and Sustainable Development Actions in Nagpur Metropolitan Area
3 March, 2023: Workshop in Roorkee, India
"COVID Induced Migration and Ecosystem Centric Rural Revitalization"
10 - 11 May, 2023: Regional-CES National Workshop in Depok, Indonesia
Strengthening Urban-Rural Linkage for Localization of SDGs through Integrated Regional Planning and Collective Actions
20 - 21 October, 2022: Regional-CES National Workshop in Thailand
Promoting Regional Circulating and Ecological Sphere (Regional-CES): Concept for Resilient and Sustainable Communities in Thailand
27 June, 2022: Workshop in Roorkee, India
"COVID Impact, Rural Revitalization and Challenges of Urban-Rural Dichotomies"
17-18 February 2022: Regional CES Scoping Workshop in the Philippines
Building climate resiliency through linking rural-urban plans and priorities, APN and IGES Joint Scoping Activity on Regional Circular and Ecological Sphere (R-CES)
Events
23 July 2024: Plenary Session on "Local Government-Led Pathways to Resilient Society through leveraging CES Approach" at the 16th International Forum on Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP)
19 Dec 2023: Thematic Session on "Mainstreaming CES in the Post-2030 Agenda for Enhancing Integrated Actions on Climate and Sustainability Goals: Towards Bridging Local-to-Global Feedback Loops" at the 15th International Forum on Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP)
20 July, 2022: Side Event on the "Applying Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) Concept for Placing Urban Rural Linkages at the Core of Localization of Climate and Sustainable Development Actions" at the 3rd Global Climate and SDGs Conference