Energy security in a new geopolitical reality

Listen to the full podcast episode and subscribe on

Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple podcasts Listen on RSS

The war in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis shocked Europe into realizing the risks of relying on imported gas and oil. As a result, many countries, including the Nordics, are asking themselves how they can become more self-sufficient and speed up the transition to locally produced renewable energy.

In this episode, we take a closer look at how to increase energy security. How can the Nordics and other countries build on their existing renewable energy resources? How can a country like Japan, with no tradition of using green energy, get started? And how can countries work together to wean their economies off imported fossil fuels and make their energy consumption more sustainable?

This episode comes from a Nordic Talks event held at the University of Creativity in Tokyo, arranged by the Nordic Innovation House and the Nordic embassies in Japan.

“The energy crisis has been a wake-up call for Japan to be self-sufficient and start with renewable energy”

Yoshiaki Wada, Member of the Japanese Parliament for the Liberal Democratic Party.

This podcast episode features the following speakers

Yoshiaki Wada (Japan)

Yoshiaki Wada is a Japanese politician who is a member of the Japanese Parliament for the Liberal Democratic Party. He is the State Minister of the Cabinet Office and a member of the House of Representatives. Yoshiaki also serves as the director of the Japanese House of Representatives' Special Committee on the Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation and as the deputy director of his party's National Defense Division - roles that align with his deep interest in national and economic security and foreign affairs.

Lars Gert Lose (Denmark)

Lars Gert Lose is Head of Global Public Affairs, Communication, and Marketing and Associate Partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) - the world’s largest dedicated fund managing greenfield renewable energy investments. Here he is responsible for the geopolitical assessment of risk and opportunities for CIP's investments globally. Previously Lars worked for 25 years in the Danish Foreign Service, including as the Danish Ambassador to the United States. There he worked intensively on foreign and security policy and how to translate it into guidance for global companies.

Stian Sollied (Norway)

Stian Sollied is the Japan country manager for the Norwegian assurance and risk management company DNV and the Norwegian Honorary Consulate-General in Kobe, Japan. Stian is responsible for overseeing, strengthening, and growing DNV-Maritime's business in Japan. Stian started his career in DNV as a design approval engineer and was later assigned to Shanghai, China, where he oversaw the Safety and Systems section in the DNV Approval Centre. As a business development manager, he had a particular focus on future regulatory development and its impact on the energy transition in the maritime industry.

Tomas Kåberger (Sweden)

Dr. Tomas Kåberger is Director of Energy Research at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and Chair of the Executive Board at the Renewable Energy Institute non-profit think tank in Tokyo. He is a Professor of Industrial Energy Policy at Chalmers University of Technology and has previously held leading positions in companies working with sustainable energy. From 2008-2011 he served as Director-General of the Swedish Energy Agency.