In October 2020, the government declared its goal to become “carbon neutral” by reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. To date, University of Toyama has conducted basic research on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, established the Carbon Neutral Material Conversion Research Center at the University’s School of Engineering, succeeded in converting carbon dioxide into materials, made many achievements in its effective use, and disseminated the results to the world.　

In recent years, there has been a great wave of acceleration towards carbon neutrality from all over the world. At University of Toyama, it has also become a challenge to organically link the results of basic research with social implementation. Therefore, in February 2024, the Carbon Neutral Material Conversion Research Center was developmentally reorganised and the Center for Carbon Neutral Creation Research was established in the Organization for Promotion of Research. The new center was reorganised into a university-wide organisation, adding the School of Economics to the School of Engineering, Science and Sustainable Design, and integrating them into three divisions: the Research and Development Division, the Social Implementation Division and the Human Resources Development Division, with researchers from each faculty assigned to each division. We will accelerate our efforts to achieve carbon neutrality with the “comprehensive knowledge” of the university.

The newly created center will act as a university-wide hub for carbon neutral research, promote the societal translation of research results and the development of green human resources, and contribute to the formation of a sustainable society. It will also systematically support the University’s strengths in collaboration with related departments, with a view to industry-academia-government collaboration and the acquisition of external funding, which is expected to increase in the future. At the same time, we will work to strengthen our research capabilities, including collaboration in different fields, and to develop human resources in the area of carbon neutrality.

We look forward to your cooperation and support, both inside and outside the University.