Greetings From the Chair of the JSME Power Energy Systems Division

Abstract

Takashi KigaI would like to extend New Year's greetings to the readers, reviewers, and editors of the ASME Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science (NERS) as Chair of the Power and Energy Systems Division (PESD) of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME).With extreme weather events occurring on a global scale and an increase in large-scale natural disasters, addressing the issue of climate change is now a common challenge for humanity. While an increasing number of countries and regions have announced carbon neutral targets and the momentum for global decarbonization is growing, Japan has also made an international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 and to achieve net-zero by 2050, and has expressed a strong national determination to address climate change issues. Nevertheless, the abnormal weather has not stopped, and in July last year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres held a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, declared that July was set to be the hottest month on record, and stated “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.” And he urged governments to take strong measures immediately.