July 10, 2020
On October 13, 2020, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) will jointly hold an International Conference on Carbon Recycling 2020. In light of the current expansion of the novel coronavirus disease, the conference will be held online. At the conference, participants will share the progress in Japan’s efforts for carbon recycling, collect knowledge and wisdom from the industry, academia and government sectors, enrich discussions on challenges in sharing the latest information and effectively promoting innovations and strive to enhance international collaboration.
Outline and purpose
Measures against climate change are an urgently needed in order to achieve a sustainable society, and to this end, global society should implement energy transitions regardless of the scales and economic levels of the respective countries. A variety of approaches to this goal are expected, and, in particular, discontinuous innovations are considered indispensable to achieve the goal of creating a balance between economic growth and decarbonization. Based on this awareness, in February 2019, Japan set a concept called “carbon recycling” in which it recognizes carbon dioxide (CO2) as a carbon resource and collects and recycles CO2. This carbon recycling concept is expected to become an innovation that achieves a balance of two solutions to challenges: contributions to solving the issue of climate change and securing new resources in a steady manner.
The conference was inaugurated in 2019 as the world’s first opportunity focusing on carbon recycling, aiming to confirm global innovative efforts, the latest information and potential for international collaboration and promote consolidated networks among the industrial, academia and governmental sectors in member countries, by bringing together leading experts from countries worldwide. The 2019 conference brought together leading experts as well as ministries and other officials from 20 countries and organizations, and participants confirmed the latest information of the world and potential for international collaboration concerning carbon recycling. METI made a presentation on Japan’s “Carbon Recycling 3C Initiative,” a policy consisting of three elements: [i] promotion of mutual exchange, [ii] establishment of R&D and demonstration base and [iii] promotion of international joint research. Member countries agreed that they should advance technological development in an accelerating manner and that they should promote innovations in a collaborative manner with other member countries.
Since the convening of the first conference in 2019, more and more people worldwide have started to become aware of the carbon recycling concept and are showing more interest in it. In response, METI and NEDO will hold an International Conference on Carbon Recycling 2020 as an effort following on from 2019 for the purpose of achieving the carbon recycling concept and participants will strive to further enhance international collaboration.
Date, venue and other information
Date: October 13 (Tue.), 2020
Venue: The conference will be held online.
Program: Speeches, presentations and panel discussions
Attendees (tentative): Representatives of the governments of member countries, international organizations, and private companies, universities and research institutes
Organizers: METI and NEDO
