Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) convened the fourth Advisory Board Meeting of its Planetary Health Project for fiscal year 2025 on February 19, 2026. This project serves as a platform for dialogue and consensus-building among experts from industry, government, academia, and civil society to examine the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution on health, and to build sustainable healthcare systems.

In this meeting, which concluded FY2025, significant achievements were reported in both international policy contributions and domestic implementation. Regarding global collaboration, progress was shared on HGPI’s involvement in the adoption of the “Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP)” at COP30, the inclusion of Japanese case studies in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Health Care Without Harm Southeast Asia (HCWH SEA). For domestic implementation, HGPI presented the “Compendium of Case Studies on Greening Healthcare Facilities (Vol. 1),” which analyzes pioneering practices at three hospitals, and offered six insights for overcoming the “triple constraints” (declining revenues, soaring construction costs, and lack of investment funds). During the latter half of the meeting, participants exchanged views on strategic directions for FY2026, including the development of a logical framework for “Synergies between Health Promotion and Environmental Protection”—where preventing chronic diseases reduces the consumption of medical resources and contributes to lowering environmental footprints—as well as plans for in-person Carbon Footprint (CFP) calculation training.

 ■ Key Discussion Topics:

The meeting focused on the following themes, serving as a bridge from the FY2025 summary to “policy implementation” in the coming year:

• Contributions to and Recognition in International Frameworks: It was reported that the “Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP),” which HGPI helped draft, was formally adopted at COP30. Additionally, Japan’s experience with pollution compensation was officially recognized as a “Best Practice” in a UNHRC report.
• Decarbonizing the Supply Chain: Regarding interventions for supply chain emissions (Scope 3), which account for the majority of the healthcare sector’s footprint, participants confirmed the need for initiatives aligned with international procurement standards discussed by the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH).
• Greening Healthcare Facilities and the “Triple Constraints”: Through the practical cases of three hospitals, the importance of strategic investment—achieving environmental impact reduction, management improvement, and disaster resilience as an integrated whole—was shared, even under the “triple constraints” of financial and economic pressures.
• Education for Practitioners and Implementation Support: A plan was approved to hold a 1.5- to 2-day in-person training session in Tokyo in November 2026. This program will utilize a “Carbon Footprint (CFP) Calculation Tool” to help healthcare institutions understand and visualize their own emissions.
• Priority Agenda for FY2026: Proposals were made to visualize the process of converting reduced medical demand into carbon indicators, strengthen healthcare resilience as regional hubs for heatstroke prevention, and organize challenges for implementing “Circular Healthcare.”

 <Fourth Advisory Board Meeting Agenda>

17:00–17:05 Opening and Introduction

17:05–17:20 Activity Report (Global trends such as BHAP and ATACH, international collaboration with HCWH, Greening Case Studies, and CFP training plans)

17:20–17:50 Expert Presentations

17:50–18:25 Discussion on Key Agenda Items (FY2026 outlook and feedback, improving Advisory Board operations)

18:25–18:30 Future Schedule and Closing

■Advisory Board Members: (titles omitted; in Japanese syllabary order)

Industry

• Satoru Arima (Sustainability Planning & Management Group, Sustainability Department, Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.)
• Yutaka Mitsutake (Director, Japan Sustainability, AstraZeneca K.K.)
• Sayuri Takimoto (Associate Director, Government Affairs & Policy, Corporate Affairs Division, AstraZeneca K.K.)
• Kentaro Kawamura (Head, Sustainability Department, Market Access & External Affairs Division, Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd.)
• Mami Handa (Senior Group Manager, Sustainability Group, Market Access & External Affairs Division, Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd.)
• Ryohei Yamagata (Sustainability Manager, Market Access & External Affairs Division, Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd.)

Government

• Satoshi Ezoe (Senior Assistant Minister for Global Health, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
• Masato Izutsu (Senior Coordinator, Global Health, International Affairs Division, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
• Haruhiko Hakuno (Director General, Environmental Health Department, Ministry of the Environment Japan)
• Shoko Misaka (Senior Officer for International Cooperation, International Affairs Division, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
• Yoshie Nakayama (Director, Heat Illness Policy Office, Policy Planning Division, Environmental Health Department, Ministry of the Environment)

Academia

• Kenji Fuma (Specially Appointed Professor, Co-Creative Organization for Green Society, Shinshu University / CEO, Neural, Inc.)
• Masahiro Hashizume (Professor, Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)
• Yukiko Imada (Associate Professor, Division of Climate System Research, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute and Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo)
• Saori Kashima (Director, Center for the Planetary Health and Innovation Science (PHIS); Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory, Hiroshima University)
• Naoki Kondo (Professor and Chair, Department of Social Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University)
• Taiko Kudo (Visiting Professor, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature)
• Keiko Nakamura (Emeritus Professor, Institute of Science Tokyo)
• Keisuke Nansai (Director, Material Cycles Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies)
• Masashi Soga (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
• Naoko Yamamoto (Vice President / Professor, International University of Health and Welfare; Director, Global Medical Cooperation Center)
• Hiroya Yamano (Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo; Senior Principal Researcher, Biodiversity Division, NIES)
• Shoji Yokobori (Professor, Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Nippon Medical School; Director, Advanced Critical Care Center, Nippon Medical School Hospital)
• Chiho Watanabe (Professor, School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University)

Civil Society / Youth

• Makoto Haraguchi (Fellow, Sustainability Department, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.)
• Yoshio Uetsuka (Supreme Adviser & Special Member, Japan R-SUD Association)
• So Sugawara (Representative Director, Green innovation)
• Yusuke Sakurai (Secretary-General, Japan Zero Carbon Welfare Council)
• Yukari Nakano (Executive Director, Japanese Nursing Association)
• Masafumi Nozawa (Director, Healthcare Division, Corporate Finance Dept. Div. 6, Development Bank of Japan)
• Yusuke Matsuo (Director, Business Task Force, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies)
• Akihito Watanabe (Health Specialist, Human and Social Development Office, Sectors Group, Asian Development Bank)
• Green Practice Japan
• AMSA Japan (Asian Medical Students’ Association Japan)
• IFMSA-Japan (International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations Japan)
• jagh-s (Japan Association for Global Health, Students Section)

Secretariat

• Joji Sugawara (President, HGPI)
• Eri Cahill (Associate, HGPI)
• Shu Suzuki (Senior Associate, HGPI)