Springer Nature and the University of Tokyo will jointly organise SDGs Symposium to explore the critical role of AI and sustainability
SDGs Symposium 2026 exploring how AI can drive sustainability while addressing its complex challenges will take place in person and online on February 17, 2026.
London | Tokyo, January 16, 2026
Springer Nature and the University of Tokyo will host the SDGs Symposium 2026, titled “AI and Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges for a Sustainable Future” that will take place on February 17, 2026. This hybrid event will bring together leading voices from a diversity of sectors to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) can drive progress toward sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while addressing its complex ethical, social, and environmental implications.
AI reshapes industries and societies at an unprecedented pace, offering transformative potential for optimising energy use, managing resources, and accelerating sustainability efforts. Yet these benefits come with challenges: high energy and water consumption, governance risks, and possibly widening social inequalities. The symposium will tackle these critical questions, fostering dialogue across research, policy, and practice to identify actionable solutions.
The 2026 SDGs Symposium will critically explore how AI can be harnessed to achieve sustainability while mitigating its risks. The event will feature keynote speeches by Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of United Nations University and Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature. This will be followed by a panel discussion with researchers and practitioners working at the interface of AI and sustainability.
This is the seventh SDG Symposium organised jointly by Springer Nature and the University of Tokyo, with some of the past events focusing on inequality, planetary health, and cities.
Registration for this event is free and anyone interested in AI and sustainability research is encouraged to join (link to event page). A student poster session will also be held following the event. Our call for posters have started, and the deadline for submission is January 30, 2026.
Event Details
- Event name: SDGs Symposium 2026 - AI and Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges for a Sustainable Future
- Date and time: Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 14:00 – 17:10 (JST)
- Format: Hybrid (Ito International Research Center, The University of Tokyo + Online)
- Language: English (with simultaneous interpretation in Japanese)
- Registration: Free and open to anyone interested in sustainability and AI (https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/campaigns/sdg-symposium-2026)
Program
- Keynote lectures by:
- Tshilidzi Marwala (Rector, United Nations University; UN Under-Secretary-General)
- Magdalena Skipper (Editor-in-Chief, Nature, Chief Editorial Advisor, Nature Portfolio)
- Plenary lectures by:
- Ayyoob Sharifi (Professor, Hiroshima University)
- Xin Zhou (Director of the AI and New Frontier Group, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES))
- Hironobu Takagi (Executive Director, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan); Senior Researcher, Accessibility Research, IBM Research – Tokyo)
- Yuji Ogino (Global Head of Sustainability, Tokyo Electron Limited)
- Panel discussion with all speakers
- Student Poster Session & Networking Reception
For the full program and speaker profiles, please visit the event page.
Springer Nature's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Programme aims to connect the researchers who are tackling the world’s toughest challenges with the practitioners in policy and business who desperately need those insights to achieve their goals in improving the world, by making our publishing activities more visible to our key communities through a variety of channels.
We have dedicated SDG hubs which contain research and resources relevant to each of the SDGs.
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Founded in 1877, the University of Tokyo, the first national university in Japan, is an educational and research institution with 15 faculties and graduate schools and 11 research institutes. Under the basic policy "UTokyo Compass - Into a Sea of Diversity: Creating the Future through Dialogue -" announced by the current President FUJII Teruo in September 2021, the University of Tokyo aims to solve social issues in collaboration with various stakeholders. For more information about the University of Tokyo, please visit https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/index.html
Ayako Miyazaki | Corporate Affairs | Springer Nature
