Special Interviews

The RD20 (Research and Development 20 for Clean Energy Technologies) conference began with a statement by then-Prime Minister Abe at the Davos Meeting in January 2019. Its establishment was later welcomed by a joint statement at a G20 Ministerial Meeting on the energy environment held in Karuizawa in June of the same year. It was decided to use RD20 as an international framework for the national research institutes of the G20 to hold conferences on energy transformation and the global environment. The government was represented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), while the conference was primarily managed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative agency. We spoke with Mr. KOYAMA Masaomi (photo), Director, International Affairs Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, METI about what general direction they intend to take this year’s RD20 2022 in light of RD20 gatherings to date.

CEA (Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) is one of France’s national technological research centers. It participated in RD20 (Research and Development for Clean Energy Technologies) which started in 2019, and pursues energy innovation for decarbonation of society. CEA is mandated by French government to achieve research and innovation supporting the energy transition and the digital transition. . CEA-Liten is an institute localized in Grenoble Area that focused on renewable energy. We asked Dr. Florence Lefebvre-Joud (Photo 1), who is Research Director at CEA-Liten in charge of international partnerships, about the institute’s approach for RD20.

Research and Development for Clean Energy Technologies (RD20), which launched in 2019, is an international R&D framework for achieving carbon neutrality. At its past three conferences there have been few participants from overseas and there is a desire to increase that number. We spoke about RD20 2022’s aims with Michio Kondo (photo) of the Global Zero Emissions Research Center (GZR) at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), RD20’s host.