Message from the Director

The G7 Summit in 2023, which Japan presided over, evoked the fact that our planet is facing three global crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and the need to accelerate efforts to achieve "Net Zero by 2050".

The Center for Global Environmental Research (CGER) of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) was established in 1990 and started its activities as a separate research center covering a wide range of global environmental issues such as stratospheric ozone, global warming, and biodiversity. Later, especially since 2001, we have been focusing on elucidating various phenomena related to global warming as well as on problem-solving research to create a decarbonized society (a society with virtually zero carbon dioxide emissions).

One of our strengths is the long-term global monitoring and analysis of greenhouse gases as well as the collection and publication of related data both domestically and internationally, based on the observations by ground stations, ships, and aircraft that started in the 1990s, and the collaboration with the GHGs Observing Satellite "IBUKI" (GOSAT) series (currently implemented by the Satellite Observation Center) that started in 2009. Also, we have the advantage of having personnel who can respond to the changing needs of society and develop research in a flexible and multifaceted approach, from fundamental research to applied research.

The Paris Agreement, which came into effect in 2016, set a goal of striving to keep the global average temperature increase to 2°C below pre-industrial levels and even 1.5°C by balancing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and sinks in the second half of this century. However, the timeframe for achieving this goal is rapidly shrinking. To address this urgent goal, I would like to contribute with the latest scientific knowledge to the query of how effective various measures are globally and how much effort is needed to maintain the global environment in a sustainable way.

Nobuko Saigusa
Director