From 28 November to 1 December 2025, The Third ISETS International Conference (ISETS 2025) was successfully held at the Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo. The conference was jointly organised by the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS) and the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and co-hosted by the Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance program (STIG) and the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) at the University of Tokyo, and Tokai University Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability (TRIES). The conference featured a hybrid format, with participants joining both in person in Tokyo and online from around the world. Under the theme “Geopolitics and Global Collaboration for Decarbonisation,” ISETS 2025 brought together more than 140 scholars and experts from over 30 countries and regions, including Indonesia, India, China, Finland, France, Japan, the Philippines, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, and Thailand, among others.

The opening ceremony on 29 November was chaired by Nobuo Tanaka, Co-Chair of the ISETS Council. Opening remarks were delivered by Xiansheng Sun, President of ISETS; Professor Hisashi Yoshikawa, representing CIGS’s President Toshihiko Fukui; Professor Hideaki Shiroyama of the University of Tokyo; Matthew Wittenstein, Chief of Section for Energy Connectivity at United Nations Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); Tetsuya Watanabe, President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA); and Yokoshima Naohiko, President of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The speakers warmly welcomed participants to the University of Tokyo and extended their congratulations on the successful convening of ISETS 2025.

Following the opening ceremony, ISETS Energy Transition Leader Forum 1 was moderated by Richard Black of Ember. Hideaki Shiroyama, Xiansheng Sun, and Tetsuya Watanabe discussed regional energy cooperation amid global uncertainty. ISETS Energy Transition Leader Forum 2, moderated by Chris Nelder of the Energy Transition Show, featured Fukunari Kimura (IDE-JETRO), Professor Sayuri Shirai (Keio University), and Professor Shabbir H. Gheewala (JGSEE), who discussed systems for the energy transition with both onsite and online audiences. Held in the historic yet elegant Ito Hall of the University of Tokyo, the leader forums vividly reflected the dynamic dialogue between classical academic traditions and contemporary global energy challenges.

On the afternoon of 29 November, Thematic Plenary Sessions 1 and 2 took place in the seminar rooms of the GraSPP Building at the University of Tokyo. Session 1, chaired by Richard Black, featured Ichiro Kutani (IEEJ), Christophe Xerri (Sailing Brain Consulting), and Matthew Wittenstein (ESCAP), who delivered presentations on Resourcing the Energy Transition. Session 2, chaired by Kaveh Khalilpour (UTS), included Elena Reshetova (Fortum), Laurence L. Delina (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Dinita Setyawati (Ember), who offered multiple perspectives on energy transitions.

The morning programme on 30 November was held at the SMBC Academia Hall of the University of Tokyo and chaired by Xunpeng Shi, President of ISETS. In the Special Dialogue session, Guojun He, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Professor in Economics at the University of Hong Kong, delivered a keynote address on “Leverage Platform to Promote Sustainability, focusing on how to leverage digital platforms to conduct cutting edge social-experiments. In the subsequent ISETS Knowledge Forum, Distinguished Professor Shunsuke Managi (Kyushu University), Professor Jinjun Xue (Nagoya University), and Professor Guojun He discussed how to shape the future of energy transition scholarship, with a particular emphasis on strengthening connections between journal editors, researchers, and knowledge users across the field.

Also, on the morning of 30 November, Thematic Plenary Sessions 3 and 4 were held at the SMBC Academia Hall, chaired by ISETS Vice President Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary and Ember’s Dinita Setyawati, respectively. Professor Emeritus Naoyuki Yoshino (Keio University), Troy Sternberg (University of Oxford), and Donald Eubank (Climate Finance Asia) discussed aligning finance and policy for a just energy transition. Lixia Yao (National University of Singapore), Seiichi Ogata (Kyoto University), and Kaho Yu (Asia Carbon Institute) addressed the Global South and China’s clean-tech overseas expansion. Speakers in both sessions actively engaged with online participants, fostering inclusive and interactive exchanges.

Over the two days of 29–30 November, ISETS 2025 featured 14 concurrent sessions, with 52 scholars from more than 10 countries presenting and discussing topics including energy transition, energy development planning, energy efficiency, carbon emissions, and climate economics through both onsite and online formats.

The closing ceremony on the afternoon of 30 November was chaired by Muyi Yang. Closing remarks were delivered by Professor Satoshi Honma of Tokai University and Xunpeng Shi. Xunpeng Shi expressed sincere appreciation for the long-standing support of participating scholars for ISETS and the College of Economics and Management of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and officially announced the successful conclusion of ISETS 2025.