This time we interviewed Yukino Sakai, who is working as an intern. Please read to the end!
Q.Please give a brief self-introduction.
I am a fourth-year student at the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Agriculture, and this year I was assigned to the Forestry Policy Research Laboratory, which studies policies and history related to forests. I am interested in carbon credits in the forestry sector and plan to write about the current status and issues of J-credits in my graduation thesis. I plan to enter graduate school after graduation and have just recently started studying for the graduate examination.
My hobbies are listening to music and travelling alone. I have severe hay fever, so during spring break when cedar pollen is high in the Kanto region, I travelled around Tohoku, where there is still snow on the ground, by slow train.
As an intern, I am involved in carbon credits in general, from overseas voluntary credits to J-credits, and from agriculture to forests. My specific duties include reading and deciphering methodologies, estimating the amount of CO2 absorption and thinking about the contents of plans.
Q.What made you decide to work for GreenCarbon?
I was introduced to DeepForest, a forest analysis company, at an event where decarbonisation entrepreneurs were speaking, which I attended through a friend. I originally thought I was challenged with how to utilise such technology and how to deliver it to consumers. It was at this time that I found out that GreenCarbon had formed a business partnership with this company to create credit, and I went to them directly to ask to work for them. Looking back, I think it was really a coincidence.
Q.When do you find your work rewarding?
This is when I can answer questions about my proposals when they are asked. Although the area of carbon credit has been around for a long time, few people in Japan have a detailed knowledge of the actual situation. In a situation where the right answer is not clear, it is rewarding when I propose what I think is the best method and people are interested in it, and when I am able to answer questions asked on the spur of the moment, I feel that I have grown in terms of my knowledge and ability to explain.
Q.What challenges have you faced so far?
The more you do it, the more questions you will have. Because it is uncharted territory, unlike university entrance exams, those questions cannot be answered. In addition, you are always working on several tasks at the same time, so if you try to solve one question perfectly, you will not be able to work on the others.
Therefore, you are expected to find an accurate answer in the shortest possible distance, and the accuracy and efficiency of this is determined by how well you can formulate a hypothesis about the question in your mind. At first it was difficult to even formulate a hypothesis, but I feel that as I do the internship, I am gradually systematising it in my mind, although it is still in the process of development.
Q.Finally, do you have a message for people who want to work for GreenCarbon?
GreenCarbon is a company where anyone can become an environmental specialist. If you are interested in environmental issues and have a little knowledge about them, but don’t know how to contribute to society, we highly recommend this internship placement. Would you like to explore uncharted territory on the stage of ‘nature’, which exists before humans?