Description

What if the key to a sustainable future lies in our ability to transform challenges into opportunities? Join us for a powerful episode of Impossible • Possible featuring Masaya Hasegawa, a passionate renewable energy advocate from Japan. Reflecting on his serene childhood and the life-altering 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Masaya Hasegawa reveals how this pivotal moment ignited his commitment to sustainability and the blue planet. “We must take action for our planet”, he asserts, emphasizing core values of challenge, trust, integrity, and enjoyment. Discover how he overcame skepticism in launching his renewable energy company and how societal awareness is shifting towards decarbonization. Masaya Hasegawa’s vision is clear: to empower future generations to embrace sustainability. Discover how determination and a strong network can turn the impossible into possible! 

About the podcast Impossible • Possible

For its 160th anniversary, Societe Generale wanted to celebrate the relationship of trust with its clients and partners, without whom nothing would have been possible. Thus, was born the Impossible • Possible art project. Marco D'Anna, a photographer, produced a series of 75 portraits of these men and women on behalf of the Group: entrepreneurs, doctors, financiers, families, volunteers, musicians, industrialists... We decided to go beyond the images... Discover these human stories, where the impossible becomes possible, these authentic testimonials where the protagonists reveal their paths, their visions, their passions.

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Transcription

• Masaya Hasegawa

  I'm born and raised in countryside of Japan. It's not so far from Tokyo. It's really surrounded by mountains and rivers, very beautiful natures. And I was just spending most of the time in the nature, like playing in the river and going to the mountain to get mushrooms. But when I turned into six years old, I had to move to Tokyo, center of the city. So that changed my life completely. My house is very close to like national road, like big road. That was actually kind of a shock to me. So that's why I want to spend my life more in nature. As many people may know, the huge earthquake happened in 2011, March 11th. And probably the next day of the earthquake, there was an accident in a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, an explosion. And at that time, I was already working for a renewable energy company, but I saw that we need to accelerate to create a better world, better future, more sustainable future for next generation. I started to think about being more serious on expanding renewable energy and renewable energy pipelines all around the world. Yeah, I'm believing that I'm doing good thing for next generation. And also, I can believe what I'm doing is absolutely good thing for next generation. Probably I will be having some moment in future, the next generation kids or I don't know, like my grandchild will be saying to me a little appreciation. What you have done was good and contributed a little bit to our sustainable world. So that's something I'm always thinking, you know, of the driving force. We have a strong purpose. It's called taking action for the blue planet. Also, we strongly believe in four important values. One is challenge. Second is trust. Third one is integrity and enjoy the planet. So if I face some difficult moment, I always try to come back to that point. And from purpose point of view, how should I deal with that situation? Whatever the second stance I'm thinking about is one of purpose and value. When I got into this industry, many people worry about me. What are you going to do? I said renewable energy. But what is renewable energy? Nobody knows about the decarbonization. Nobody cares about renewable energy. But now everybody is talking about renewable energy, sustainable world, decarbonization society. So totally different. Which is good. I really want to realize the great company, great platform that can keep creating better world regardless of who is operating this company. So generation will be changed and probably someday I will have to step down or retire from the front line of the company. But regardless of people, as long as this company is existing. The great people is coming to this platform from all over the world and they will contribute to shaping a better world. That's that kind of platform I really want to realize. I still clearly remember 13, 14 years ago when we started this company, many good friends advised that starting power plant related business should be very heavy, should be very tough, should be very risky. If you're seriously thinking about starting new business in that sector from the scratch, it should be really risky. Let's say 99% of the people told me that. But we thought, you know, after having the Fukushima power plant accident, we really thought that society needs to be changed. We didn't give up and we tried to increase the number of friends on network who can believe our vision. And in the end, we were able to make it happen. I can understand people saying it's very risky because it's a very capital-intensive business. You have to have a huge money to start the power plant related business. But if you don't give up, I think the people coming to you and I also want to contribute to realize your vision so we could overcome the difficulty. Nobody knows how long your life is lasting, when your life will be ending. You don't know, right? So I didn't want to have regrets about my life.