My EcoBalance 2022 conference experience

This is Zhao Han, a Ph.D. student in the Kawasaki Lab. Here, I would like to record my participation in the International Conference on EcoBalance 2022 from 31 October - 2 November.

The International Conference on EcoBalance, organized by the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan (ILCAJ), is held every two years. Recognized as one of the world's premier conferences for professionals from academia, industry, and government, the Ecobalance 2022 is in its 15th year and is held at the Fukuoka International Congress Center.

I was thrilled to attend for the first time! I met with researchers from major Japanese universities such as the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Kyushu University, and Tohoku University, as well as other prestigious universities around the world such as ETH, Yale University, and Leiden University. The sessions were held in separate sessions for different topics. Due to the large number of accepted topics, many sessions were held in parallel. We need to check out the sessions that interest us and then go to a specific venue at a specific time.

In addition to the sessions, the conference also featured presentations by industry experts. For example, Mr. Hiroshi Ozeki from Nissay Asset Management Corporation spoke about Trends and expectations in the investment industry for carbon neutrality. It is believed that these explorations will significantly contribute to improving environmental and social sustainability in the medium to long term.

Meanwhile, listening to the fluent and confident presentations of others at the conference immediately made me feel a lot more stressed. At the conference, I presented to the audience some of the progress of my research on determinants of changes in crucial environmental indicators for Global Commons Stewardship in China based on the MRIO model. I also received a lot of helpful comments during the conference. Once I finished my presentation, I was finally able to start enjoying the conference.

I traveled non-stop to the different sessions to listen to the topics that interested me, which greatly enriched my perspective. On the evening of the 31st, I attended the Ecobalance Young Researchers' Workshop, where Professor Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner from Technical University Berlin gave a very interesting and humorous presentation on practical LCA. It was the first time I had a complete understanding of LCA assessments!

Overall, the various experiences of the conference were an incredible eye-opener for me at the time and also honed my ability to act and judge independently, it was very memorable.