It is great honor to be the 12th Chair of the Environment Division of The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan (SCEJ). I will serve as the Chair for the next two years.

Global warming has been paid much attention among researchers for over 30 years. Now, the general public has come to recognize that climate change caused by global warming is a real problem that threatens our lives. The increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, is said to be the cause of global warming, and it may appear to be an atmospheric environment problem. However, it is essentially an energy and resource problem, and is closely related to our lifestyles. Achieving carbon neutrality, which is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero, is an issue that humanity must exert all its efforts to address, and the Environmental Division will pay special attention to this issue.

On the other hand, our environmental problems are not limited to climate change; the Planetary Boundary concept, proposed in 2009, identified nine categories of maintaining global environmental stability and defined safe limits for each. The nine categories are (1) climate change, (2) atmospheric aerosol loading, (3) stratospheric ozone depletion, (4) ocean acidification, (5) freshwater change, (6) land use change, (7) biosphere integrity, (8) biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorus, and (9) novel entities. The 2023 assessment stated that the limits had already been exceeded in all six categories except (2), (3) and (4). In order to maintain a viable global environment for living organisms, including humans, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the atmosphere, water, and soil environment and living organisms, and to take necessary measures.

In addition to these global environmental problems, there are many local environmental problems that threaten the ecosystems around us, including relatively new environmental pollution problems such as PFAS and PFOS, and radioactive contamination problems in Japan. These environmental problems closed to us require a quick response and the immediate development of countermeasure technologies against them.

Furthermore, it is important to promote recycling and increase resource efficiency in order to prevent environmental pollution caused by waste and reduce the burden on the natural environment caused by procurement of new raw materials. Transforming from a linear economy to a circular economy is essential for both economic development and environmental conservation.

Thus, the preservation of our environment requires the development of elemental technologies in a wide and diverse range of fields and a system engineering approach that combines these technologies, where chemical engineering knowledge and technology are needed. Furthermore, an interdisciplinary approach in collaboration with the natural and social sciences is also necessary. The Environmental Division aims to offer an open platform for information exchange and discussion among people working on all environmental issues, from local to global.

The Environment Division is comprised of four subcommittees (Global Environment Subcommittee, Water Environment Process Subcommittee, Recycling Subcommittee, and Environmental System Subcommittee). The main activities of the Environment Division include holding symposiums at the Autumn Meeting and the Annual Meeting, organizing other seminars and international conferences, writing the Chemical Engineering Yearbook, planning and editing special issues of journals, and disseminating information. In recent years, we have strengthened our cooperation with other divisions and have held many cross-divisional symposia. In the future, I would like to further strengthen exchanges with other societies, and provide opportunities to think about solutions of environmental issues from various viewpoints. I hope that many people will join us and work together to improve the environment. See you at the events !

April 2025

Nobuhide Takahashi
Professor
Shinshu University
Chair, Environmental Division, The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan