Overview

The RD20 Summer School 2026 was hosted by the UM6P (University Mohammed VI Polytechnic) and LIMSET (The Laboratory of Inorganic Materials for Sustainable Energy Technologies) in Ben Guerir, Morocco, and was organized by CNRS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research). It took place from May 17 to 23.

The fourth edition of the summer school was the first time that RD20 held an event in Africa. The theme was “Decarbonization of the Fertilizer Value Chain.” For Morocco, a major fertilizer exporter, this decarbonization effort extends beyond reducing the country’s own CO2 emissions to helping lower the environmental impact of global agriculture. Furthermore, ammonia and hydrogen—key raw materials for fertilizers—play a crucial role in the decarbonization of the energy sector as well.

Approximately 90 participants, including students and lecturers from research institutions and universities around the world, took part in the Summer School. Participants represented a wide range of organizations, including 14 RD20 member institutions. Researchers from 10 institutions across 7 countries served as lecturers, delivering a total of 16 lectures on clean energy technologies, covering topics such as renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen and low-emission fuels, CCUS, resources, AI, and sustainability.

In addition to the lectures, participants further deepened their knowledge and expanded international networks through four panel discussions on multifaceted energy challenges, 18 poster presentations, group work conducted in nine teams, and a campus tour of UM6P’s research facilities.

RD20 Member Institutions Participating in the Summer School:
・National Research Council Canada (NRC), Canada
・European Union Joint Research Centre (JRC)
・Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), France
・Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), France
・Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (Fh-G), Germany
・Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fh-ISE), Germany
・National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia
・Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Italy
・Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV), Mexico
・King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), Saudi Arabia
・UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
・National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), United States of America
・RIKEN, Japan
・National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

Some key documents from the RD20 Summer School 2026 official website are included on this page.