We conducted an interview with Shota Fujimoto from the Research and Development Division. Please read to the end!
Q.Please briefly introduce yourself, including your career to date.
At university, she studied functional analysis of plant genes by genome editing based on the results of genetic analysis. After graduating from university, she joined a major chemical company, where she was involved in collaborative research with universities and also worked on microbial screening and breeding projects with domestic bio-ventures.
Currently, at Green Carbon, she is working with various universities and collaborating on the practical application of new technologies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Q.What type of work are you involved in? Please tell us about your work.
I am mainly involved in collaborative research with universities, working on the research and development of carbon-neutral technologies. Currently, I am growing rice plants in an environment that mimics a paddy field, and through accurate measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, I am verifying measures that can further reduce GHG emissions. We are also working with universities to apply for grants to further develop our research.
Furthermore, I am also in charge of collecting information on relevant intellectual property and papers to verify the technical content of new technologies when they are circulated within the company, and I sometimes evaluate the effectiveness of technologies.
Through these activities, I hope to be among the first to put innovative technologies to practical use and contribute to a sustainable future.
Q.What made you decide to work for Green Carbon?
Hearing about the introduction of carbon taxes in Europe, an environmentally advanced country, and the increasing number of consumers who want to buy products with low GHG emissions, I was vaguely concerned about the future of the Japanese export industry, partly because of the inevitably long transport distances.
Therefore, at least until the companies innovate carbon neutral technologies, we thought that if we could provide a place where we could compete with local companies in terms of product value with the same environmental impact by using carbon credits, we could maintain our international competitiveness.
It was in this context that I joined the company when I learnt that there was a company actively creating and trading carbon credits under the vision of ‘saving the planet with the power of life’ and wondered if I could make use of my career to make this happen.
Q.What challenges have you faced so far?
It would be rarer not to have challenges, but one thing I would raise is that I often work in areas that I don’t know much about. For example, in our current rice cultivation trials, we lack knowledge of soil micro-organisms, so we are learning from specialist teachers and deepening our knowledge through literature research.
In addition, even if there is an attractive technology, it is sometimes difficult to put the technology to practical use, as the company may face challenges of cost and human resource efficiency as a business operation. In the future, I would like to identify the important points among these challenges and solve them effectively.
Q.What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
The very difficult part is to successfully incorporate actual field conditions and environments into the research. It is impossible to reproduce them perfectly, so we have to make selections and simplifications, but it is very rewarding when we start to get around to it.
Also, sometimes unexpected technical problems arise at the preliminary experimental stage, and we struggle to ensure that they do not occur in the main experiment.
Q.Finally, do you have a message for those who want to work for Green Carbon?
Carbon credits are currently on the rise and I believe they are still expanding. That’s why this is the most exciting time of the year. It is still in the bud stage, but let’s grow it together until it comes to fruition. I look forward to working with you all on carbon credit creation.