Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) convened the first Advisory Board Meeting of its Planetary Health Project for fiscal year 2025 on May 23, 2025.

Recognizing the profound impact of global environmental challenges—such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution—on human health, HGPI has initiated the Planetary Health Project. This effort serves as a policy dialogue platform, bringing together stakeholders from industry, government, academia, civil society, and youth to facilitate collaborative, sustainable health and environmental policymaking.

During this inaugural meeting, the secretariat presented the project’s strategic direction and plans for FY2025, followed by robust discussion aimed at fostering future collaboration. Notably, amidst concurrent policy developments like the “New Capitalism” agenda and the “Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform” (Honebuto Policy), participants actively exchanged ideas on key themes: creating compendiums of healthcare facilities that have successfully reduced environmental footprints, designing a Planetary Health Academy emphasizing capacity-building and network-strengthening, and planning expert forums linked to the Osaka-Kansai Expo. With the addition of many new board members, introductions highlighted their current initiatives and aspirations for contributing to the Advisory Board, further strengthening collective networks.

This Advisory Board will continue to advance cross-sectoral perspectives on planetary health issues through ongoing policy recommendation and public outreach activities throughout FY2025.

■ Planned Initiatives for FY2025

In FY2025, HGPI will intensify efforts across both implementation and dissemination, with key initiatives including:

1. Hosting public-oriented webinars—particularly bolstering heat-related illness prevention measures
2. Exploring synergies with the Osaka‑Kansai Expo, including potential symposiums
3. Launching the Planetary Health Academy to foster learning and networking
4. Conducting surveys among medical professional societies and organizing policy briefings for lawmakers
5. Gathering and promoting model cases of “green” (environmentally friendly) healthcare facility practices
6. Sustained policy advocacy and proposal formulation throughout the year

<First Advisory Board Meeting>

• 17:00–17:05 – Purpose of Meeting & Recap of Past Initiatives
• 17:05–17:10 – Overview of FY2025 Plans
• 17:10–17:45 – Member Introductions: Personal Profiles & Expectations for the Year
• 17:45–18:55 – Full Board Discussion
• 18:55–19:00 – Next Steps & Closing Remarks

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

Industry

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

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)
• Mitsuya Maeda (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)
• Masahiro Hashizume (Professor, Department of Global Health Policy, 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 (Vice-Secretary General, HGPI)
• Eri Keihill (Associate, HGPI)
• Shu Suzuki (Senior Associate, HGPI)