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The Research and Education Center for Natural Sciences held a symposium titled "Let's Discuss and Think About the SDGs and Science!" in the Raiosha's Symposium Space on November 15, 2025. Approximately 40 people attended.

By now, many people will have heard about the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. These are supposed to be achieved by 2030, but just what kind of concrete action is being taken to make that possible? To tackle this question, we invited four leading figures in fields related to the SDGs to attend the symposium. With the deadline only five years away, we hoped to share the current status of SDGs achievement, and also to offer participants another opportunity to discuss and think about the development of the science and technology needed to support these efforts.

Professor Ayumi Onuma, of the Keio Faculty of Economics, gave the first lecture. It was titled "Using the Power of Economics to Support the Global Environment – The Two-Wheeled Engine of Economic Policy and Consumer Action." Professor Onuma presented concrete examples to logically explain how new technologies and products become established in the marketplace.

Next, the president of the J Leaf Corporation, Jun Uehara, presented the current and future prospects for plant factory–based lettuce production, and offered a roadmap for sustainable food procurement in a lecture titled "SDGs: The Case of Plant Factories."

The third lecturer was Kenichi Imagawa, of the Chiyoda Corporation's Research and Development Center. He explained potential applications for hydrogen, which has been slated as a next-generation energy source, and offered a forecast for its future development from the perspective of cost, in a lecture titled "Applications for Hydrogen (Manufacturing, Transportation, Use) That Aid SDGs Achievement."

In the final lecture, titled "Lunar Ring: Solar Power Generation on the Moon and Lunar Surface Construction Technology," Naohiro Uyama, of the Shimizu Corporation's Emerging Frontiers Division, introduced an initiative that aims to generate solar power on the moon's surface, and spoke about future possibilities for energy provision.

These four lectures and the following general question, answer, and discussion session served as an opportunity for the lecturers and participants to jointly conceive a concrete vision of the SDGs, and science and technology, for 2030 and beyond.

The Research and Education Center for Natural Sciences is planning a variety of fun events related to the natural sciences, including lectures, symposiums, and science cafes. We hope you will join us!

Photos: Takeshi Kishi