Chair, the Steering Committee of Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF), CEO, Tanaka Global, Inc.
Mr. Tanaka began his career in 1973 in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Tokyo. He has extensive national government and international experience within METI, the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. and the OECD. Mr. Tanaka first joined the OECD in 1989 as Deputy Director of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, and was promoted to Director in 1992. In 1995, he returned to METI and served in a number of high-ranking positions, the most recent being Director-General, Multilateral Trade System Department, Trade Policy Bureau. In this role he led many trade negotiations for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He held the position of Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) from 2007 to 2011. In the energy field, Mr. Tanaka has accumulated a variety of experiences. He was responsible for Japan’s involvement with the IEA and the G7 Energy Ministers’ Meeting during the second oil crisis. In the late 1980s, he participated in establishing the comprehensive energy policy of Japan and he also oversaw the implementation of Japan’s international nuclear energy policy and led negotiations of bilateral nuclear agreements. Mr. Tanaka worked on formulating international strategy as well as co-ordinating domestic environment policy and energy policy in the Kyoto COP3 negotiation. Mr. Tanaka has a degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
