Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan: Achieving a Sustainable City; Tokyo’s Strategy for 2023

On February 13, 2023, Governor Koike delivered a speech titled “Achieving a Sustainable City; Tokyo’s Strategy for 2023” to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Her talk began with a video showing how the Governor communicates COVID-19 information in multiple languages.

Topics included

• Tokyo’s fiscal 2023 budget in light of the challenging global situation, including natural disasters, economic recession, and the declining population in Tokyo and Japan.
• Proactive policies for women and children, such as how the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly is the most diverse in Japan, with 30 % of its members being women, and how TMG is taking comprehensive measures to tackle the issue of the falling birthrate under the banner of “Children First.”
• Climate change initiatives, including the mandatory installation of solar power generation for residential buildings, installation of EV charging facilities for new buildings, the utilization of hydrogen and the “HTT campaign” to achieve Zero Emission Tokyo.
• Financial initiatives with the aim of tackling the climate crisis and achieving sustainable growth. Based on the Tokyo Green Finance Initiative (TGFI), Tokyo is taking the lead in issuing green bonds and is making efforts to become one of the leading green finance markets in Asia.
• Tokyo’s efforts to be a center of innovation and introduction of its “SusHi Tech Tokyo”（Sustainable High City Tech Tokyo) initiative, which includes “City-Tech. Tokyo,” a global event for creating a sustainable society through open innovation with startups, as well as the “G-NETS Leaders Summit”, where city leaders gather to discuss sustainable urban solutions.