In this interview, Masa discusses how his love of mathematics and data helps Evident monitor global trends, model future market activity, and make energy information more transparent.

Meet Masakazu Hasegawa, Evident’s Head of Insights

How does your work as Head of Insights support Evident and its clients?

My work as Evident’s Head of Insights has a clear purpose: to protect the integrity of Evident’s Registries and the certificates issued through them.

Our Registries form the backbone of energy attribute certificate (EAC) markets, ensuring every transaction and consumer claim can be uniquely traced to the renewable energy it represents. This provides businesses and governments with confidence in the integrity of their data and the claims they make.

The Insights team adds an additional layer of quality assurance — continuously analysing and verifying registry data to uphold the accuracy, transparency, and credibility that Evident is known for.

We also monitor trends across EAC markets globally, seeking to understand why performance may differ between regions. For example, local changes such as the introduction of a new issuer or approved organisations with local expertise, can influence market dynamics.

What drew you to Evident, and how does Evident’s mission connect with your interests in sustainability and data?

After moving to Japan, I spent two decades running an English language school for children. During that time, I began writing about environmental issues in a newsletter for my students, hoping to inspire them to think about the planet’s future, especially at a time when the climate crisis was not widely recognised in Japan.

That growing passion for environmental awareness eventually led me to pursue a career in sustainability. When I joined Evident, it was as a Product Associate, but I soon became involved in analysing data and identifying trends. My love of maths and data made the transition into Insights a natural fit.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in renewable energy data in the next few years?

One promising area is distributed renewable energy (DRE), clean energy generated close to the point of use, such as through microgrids: localised networks capable of operating independently from the main grid. DRE is especially relevant in rural sub-Saharan Africa, where solar potential is high but access to centralised grids remains limited.

Encouraging these regions to issue I-RECs from microgrids and other DRE projects would enable the collection of data that can be monetised, creating an additional revenue stream to support local communities.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in sustainability and data science?

Curiosity is essential. You can have all the qualifications and technical skills in the world, but without curiosity, you will struggle to uncover the insights hidden in the data. A genuine curiosity to understand what the data reveals is what turns information into impact.

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