Promote low-carbon/low-pollution society

Project Name	International Research Network for Low Carbon Societies (LCS-RNet) (341KB)
Location	Worldwide
Project Background	At their meeting in Kobe, May 2008, G8 Environment Ministers recognized the need for countries to develop their own visions towards low-carbon societies and supported the proposal from Japan to establish the International Research Network for Low Carbon Societies (LCS-RNet). Following this, LCS-RNet was established in April 2009 to share information, promote research on low carbon societies and provide scientific knowledge into policy-making process for climate change such as G8 and Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. In the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting (G8EMM) held in April 2009 in Siracusa, Italy, high expectations were placed on the LCS-RNet and the network was asked to report back its outcomes periodically. Currently 15 research institutes from 7 countries constitute this network and the Secretariat is located in the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) with the support from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.
Objectives	Since 2007 G8 Heiligendamm Summit, which discussed the goal of halving global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, the reorganization that the transition to low-carbon societies is fundamental to achieve such a long-term goal has been enhanced. In order to realize low carbon societies, each country needs to develop their own vision of low-carbon societies and policies to advance the transition. The object of the LCS-RNet is to be a platform among researchers, share information on various research of low carbon societies, contribute to further research in each country and support this transition through dialogues between stakeholders such as policy-makers, business sectors and citizens.
Member Countries	France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, and UK (alphabetical order)
Project Achievements	The inaugural meeting, hosted by the Euro Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC), was held in Bologna, Italy in October, 2009. The discussion covered various policies and research towards low-carbon societies with five pillars; long-term and mid-term targets, economic aspects of low carbon societies, the role of technology, public policy and lifestyle change, and cross-cutting issues. The results of discussion were summarized into the synthesis report and reported to policy-makers at the side event of COP15, etc. To promote further discussion, the second annual meeting, hosted by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Federal Environment Agency Germany (UBA) with supports from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (WI), was held in Berlin, Germany in September, 2010. The themes of the meeting included national roadmaps on green development for industrialized and developing countries, model of green economy, leapfrogging, sustainable consumption and production and the role of cities. Participants discussed steps and measures to facilitate transition to low-carbon societies at national, local and individual levels as well as the role of science to realize above transition. Additionally, as activities of the LCS-RNet Secretariat, IGES has been implementing dialogues between policy-makers and researchers, workshops and internship programs for capacity building of researchers, in order to improve research ability in Asia.
Planned Activities	Synthesis report, summary of presentations and discussions at the second annual meeting, will be reported at the side event of COP16 and G8 Environment Ministers Meeting in next fiscal year as a latest output of the LCS-RNet. Additionally, momentums of collaborative research on necessary topics towards low-carbon society in the future are boosted. Annual meeting, held yearly based, is principally hosted by the country of the G8 presidency. (to be hosted by France in 2011, schedule will be confirmed).
Planned Activities	[France]   Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) Academy of Technologies (AT) [Germany]   Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (WI) [India]   Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) Indian Institute of Technology / Delh (i IITD) Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) [Italy]   Euro Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC) National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) [Japan]   National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) [Republic of Korea]   National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) [UK]   UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) * Participation in the LCS-RNet is open while the orientation and management of the LCS-RNet is guided by the steering group.
Related URL	International Research Network for Low Carbon Societies (LCS-RNet) [New window opens]