RD20 Summer School Report, Prapoutel, France, July 2-7, 2023
In early July, 65 researchers from 16 countries on five continents gathered in a quiet place close toGrenoble in the northern French Alps. The group – a mix of early career researchers and seniorscientists – spent one week participating in extensive lectures and discussions about the latest
developments and trends in renewable energy and sustainability research.
This first summer school was organized under the patronage of the RD20 initiative, which brings
together the leading research and development (R&D) institutes of the G20 countries in the field ofdecarbonization. It gave Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career researchers theopportunity to learn more about low-carbon energy technologies and systems from world experts,
to establish new contacts with research fellows in other countries, and to explore opportunities forcollaboration. Hosted by leading French research organisations, the French Alternative Energies
and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research(CNRS), participants were also given the chance to get firsthand experience during lab tours at theirfacilities.
The event covered a broad range of topics, including the world’s energy status, renewable energy
production, energy carrier storage and conversion, hydrogen and fuel cells, CO2 recycling, system
life cycle assessment, critical materials awareness, and societal and economic impacts. It provided
participants from different societal and economic backgrounds a unique forum to meet with,exchange, and learn from their peers and established experts, enabling them to get immersed in new
ideas that benefit their own work and ultimately the future of humankind.
As one clearly visible accomplishment of the RD20 initiative, participants and experts spoke highlyof the event. They underscored the important opportunity it provided for sharing their extensive
research efforts as well as understanding and communicating how their work contributes to theglobal energy transition toward a carbon neutral and sustainable economy. Both organisers andparticipants articulated their expectation that this new platform will be held on an annual basis toserve as a source of inspiration; a place for harmonized learning, sharing of perspectives, andnetworking for the next generation of researchers; and a venue to promote the RD20 objectives.
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During lectures, participants had the opportunity to learn more about low-carbon energy technologies and systems fromworld experts of leading research and development institutes

Message from the organiser

Florence Lefebvre-Joud
Research Director at CEA – France;
Head of National and International
Academic Partnerships for LITEN

RD20 is the perfect forum to gather scientists fromaround the world who have a common ambition toprotect our planet but also face different geographical,
political, and economic conditions. RD20 gives thesescientists the opportunity to join forces to build
technological solutions all together, with the clear
understanding that climate mitigation will not comefrom one solution or one country alone.
Together with my colleague from CNRS, we haveselected a location close to Grenoble for this event,which offers the possibility of visiting leading research
centres dedicated to renewable energy. As organiser, I
wanted to offer an environment where we could meet,
stay for a while, and encourage the young researchers
to get involved in open exchanges and discussions with
their peers and senior experts. The future of the planetand climate change will be tackled by their generation,
so it is important for us to help develop a global
network of young researchers from different
disciplines. As an outcome, we asked them to discussinternally and agree on a recommendation or message
they all consider important for the G20 stakeholders.
Finally, if we want to build something lasting, thesummer school initiative should be organised annually.
Page 2Message from the lecturers

Eniya Listiani Dewi
Research Professor at National
Research and Innovation Agency(BRIN) – Indonesia; fuel cell andhydrogen technology, national
research and innovation

Striving for a carbon neutral society requires help frommany stakeholders, including the government,businesses, researchers, and society. From the RD20meetings, I gained a good overview of the research
institutes, collaborative efforts, and research fundingof other countries that could be gathered to achieve acarbon neutral economy. I would like to point to ourunderstanding that technological solutions must
always meet local requirements, which are different inevery place. For the collaboration to succeed, we needto overcome the gap that exists between developed anddeveloping countries and openly share our difficulties,
which should enable developing countries to avoid
them and speed up their efforts to implement
renewable energies.
Looking at the enthusiasm of the young researchers
and their high levels of education leads me to theconviction that this event could influence otherresearchers to spread the word about the RD20initiative. In this sense, the summer school is a firstvisible result of our discussions at the RD20 leaders’meetings.

Anthony Burrell
Energy Storage Lead at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) – USA; electrochemicalstorage technologies

It is time to make the energy transition happen as fast
as we can, and the RD20 summer school is critical forour success. The transition won’t be achieved with asingle piece of technology, without thinking about how
the whole world of interconnected devices areconnecting in the overall energy landscape. The
summer school let us get together and talk about how
we are going to achieve this, as well as enabling early
career researchers to understand what those challenges
are and begin to think in a broader sense about where
their research fits into the total ecosystem and where
the whole system is going, which is important for ourcommon understanding. While we all have ournational interests and focus, the total RD20 initiative iscritical to getting together as a global community ofscientists and starting to think about how we integrate
our directions in multiple systems across the globe, indeveloped countries as well as developing countries.
Cooperating and learning from each other is the only
way we can accelerate this to the point where we canmeet the challenges and demands ahead.

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Voices of the young researchers

Ali AsgarianResearch Officer at National ResearchCouncil (NRC) – Canada; advanced
material research facility

Gisu Doo
Energy Researcher at Korea Instituteof Energy Research (KIER) – SouthKorea; production of green hydrogenby water electrolysis

One of the problems we have right now in Canada are
the many wildfires that plague our country. Climatechange, although not the only factor, is one of theimportant factors contributing to their intensity. The
smoke and dust affect everyone, in neighbouring
countries like the United States and as far as WesternEurope, and we as human beings must work together
and support each other in solving this problem.
The RD20 summer school is a very important initiative
to bring together all the researchers from different
countries who are working on climate change so they
can communicate with each other, share their researchideas, make connections, and start collaborating.
The policymakers who initiated this conference should
keep the momentum going, provide more help toremove existing obstacles, and make it even more
integrated to support us tackling the issue of climatechange in a united manner.

After seeing people suffering from the climate crisis,
for example, through floods and desertification, I
thought, “We have to do some sustainable research andhelp others make the world a happier place.”
As my main motivation, I am always eager to see what
other researchers are doing abroad. The RD20 summer
school is helpful for me to meet researchers fromabroad and learn things from them – for example,
trends their research group is focusing on – whichenables me to apply these latest trends in my country.
My hope is to become an RD20 energy ambassador inSouth Korea and to share my experiences in South
Korea with other researchers in the hydrogen energy
community, where technologies still can be improved
a lot (not only in South Korea, but also in othercountries). The RD20 summer school and the RD20
initiatives let us connect with other researchers, which
can give us additional motivation, and provide an
opportunity for networking and knowledge transfer,which will contribute to the development of carbon
neutral societies.

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Boitumelo Tlokolo
Energy Industry Team at the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) – South Africa; socioeconomic
impacts of the energy transition

Nithin Manjooran Cherian
Renewable energy engineering andmanagement at the Energy andResources Institute (TERI) – India;
wind resource assessment, carbon
neutrality, and sustainable aviation
fuels

The energy transition may also lead to negative socioeconomic implications, so we need to make sure thatthese are minimised. The RD20 summer school is aplace to learn what other young researchers are doingin their various institutions, how we can bettercollaborate, where the gaps are in our research, whatlessons we have learned, and how we can collaborate
more to further enhance each person’s work.
Each country around the world has its own challenges
and opportunities. By conducting impactful researchthat can be adopted by the large number of economies
still developing, we can contribute to the overall goalsof the RD20 initiative.
The move toward a carbon neutral economy requires aglobal effort. By coming together, through goodknowledge exchange and collaboration, sharing ofideas, and offering of lessons learned, we can come up
with innovative solutions and ensure that the energy
transition is inclusive and that no one is left behind.

One of my main motivations for working in this sector
is to collaborate with industrial partners to mitigate
climate change effects. I also hope to help reduce thedependence on fossil fuels and to contribute toenvironmental well-being.
I was excited to attend the RD20 summer school tocollaborate and discuss with scholars, subject matter
experts, and colleagues how to decarbonise energy
systems (on a range of different issues, fromtechnological and socioeconomic perspectives).
One of my contributions toward a carbon neutral
economy is my work in the sustainable aviation sector
to decarbonise long-distance travel and make it moresustainable and economically viable. By engaging in
dialogue with various scientific communities, as wellas multi-disciplinary research activities that speed up
the energy transition that nations need to create a moresustainable lifestyle and world for future generations,
we can support the overall objectives of the RD20
initiative.

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Participants spoke highly of the event as a venue for harmonized learning, networking and to promote the RD20
objectives

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