【Ｍｏｏｎｓｈｏｔ Ｇｏａｌ ４】
The R&D concept of “Realization of sustainable resource circulation to recover
the global environment by 2050”
February 2020
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

1. Moonshot Goals
Within the Moonshot Goals (decided on January 23rd, 2020, by Plenary
session of Council for Science, Technology and Innovation), the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (“METI”) will, jointly with the New Energy andIndustrial Technology Development Organization (“NEDO”) as a researchpromotion agency, undertake research and development activities forachieving the following Goal.
＜Moonshot Goal＞“Realization of sustainable resource circulation to recover the global
environment by 2050”
In order to recover the global environment, the Goal aims to solve theproblem of global warming (the Cool Earth) and to solve the problem ofenvironmental pollution (the Clean Earth) through realizing sustainable
resource circulation, and aims to deploy commercial plants or products utilizing
circulation technology globally by 2050.
○The Cool EarthDevelopment of circulation technology on a pilot scale for reducing
greenhouse gases that is also effective in terms of life cycle assessment (LCA)
by 2030.
○The Clean EarthDevelopment of technology on a pilot scale or in a form of prototype thatconverts environmentally harmful substances into valuable or harmlessmaterials by 2030.
12. Related government policy(1) Japan's Long-term Strategy under the Paris Agreement① Based on the Japan's Long-term Strategy under the Paris Agreement(Cabinet decision, June 11, 2019, hereinafter the “Long-term Strategy”)
and the Integrated Innovation Strategy 2019 (Cabinet decision, June 21,2019), the Government of Japan aims to create disruptive innovation inenergy and environmental areas which Japan has strength, and to maketechnologies affordable enough to be used globally in order to contributeto a drastic reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in Japan aswell as worldwide.
② In order to solve urgent problems of climate change, the Long-term
Strategy advocates business action toward a “Virtuous cycle ofenvironment and growth”, rather than regulations. It also clearly states thecontribution to the realization of the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement
including the 1.5°C target. In order to realize the goal stated in the Longterm Strategy, various technology development and verification projects
for practical use have been started in Japan for 2050. However, in order torealize the goal, it is important and necessary to not only achieve
reduction of GHG emissions from product manufacturing process orenergy supply, but also achieve innovation of technologies to capture anddetoxify the GHG in the atmosphere.
③ The Moonshot Goal of the “Realization of sustainable resource circulation
to recover the global environment by 2050” (hereinafter the “MS Goal”)
and the goal of Long-term Strategy are facing in the same direction.
Therefore, the Moonshot R & D Program shall aim to achieve the goal of
the Long-term Strategy for contributing to the achievement of goal under
the Paris Agreement. Carbon circulation by DAC (Direct Air Capture) andindustrial nitrogen circulation could be examples of various approaches toachieve the MS Goal. In terms of how to reduce GHG emissions by thesetechnologies as well as how to reduce cost of them, it is necessary notjust for a capturing process but for an entire system level including
utilization process after it to consider them from an early stage of R&D.
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(2) Action plan for marine plastic litter①

Plastic is utilized widely as a material which brings convenience tohuman life due to it being light weight, tough and easy to process. As
economic growth and production increases globally environmental
pollution by marine plastic litter has also increased. Based on the
background of increasing global concern regarding marine plastic litteron a global scale, the United Nations General Assembly for theEnvironment, held in March 2019, adopted a resolution on marine plastic
litter and micro plastics. An international approach, such as
accumulation of scientific knowledge and technical information to deal
with marine plastic litter and micro plastics, reduction of one way (singleuse) plastic waste, and strengthening support for the innovation fordevelopment of alternative materials by utilizing industry-academiagovernment collaboration, are required.

② In such circumstances, Japan formulated the “Marine plastic littercountermeasure action plan”（cabinet decision dated May 31st, 2019,
hereinafter the “Marine plastic action plan”）and the “Roadmap forPopularizing Development and Introduction of Marine Biodegradable
Plastics” (formulated by METI dated May 7th, 2019, hereinafter the“Roadmap for Marine Biodegradable Plastics”).
③ The Marine plastic action plan aims to realize a world where effective
use of plastic means no new plastic pollution is created. This is based on
the idea of creating a virtuous cycle of environment and growth throughinnovation is the preferred approach rather than restricting economic
activities. Promotion of innovation should serve as the base to proceedmarine plastic countermeasure worldwide, including encouraging thedevelopment of materials which may not have adverse effects even if
they flow into the sea (biodegradable plastic, paper, etc.) andenhancement of fact-finding for marine plastic litter and scientificknowledge. In addition, the Roadmap for Marine Biodegradable Plastics
indicates three stages: social implementation of practical technologies,
multi-use of material through technology development of composite
materials, and research and development of innovative materials.
3④ To deal with marine plastic litter, conventional recycle technologies suchas collection and reuse of plastic and reinforcement of such activities by
citizen is effective. However, it is important and necessary to have efforts
beyond such conventional activities, specifically, to develop materials
assuming the difficulty of its recovery.
3．Direction of research and development
Based on the discussion and proposal made in the Moonshot International
Symposium (held in December 17, 18, 2019) [1], direction of research anddevelopment at present is shown as follows.
(1) Area and field to promote challenging R&D
The resource circulation technologies that contribute to the Cool Earth andthe Clean Earth are mapped in a matrix in Fig. 1.
The horizontal axis shows the status of resources to be circulated, whether
the concentration is high or low, or recovery is easy or difficult. Technologies
are shown to the left of the matrix that are currently difficult to recover target
substances because the substances spread widely or exist in low
concentration. In order to solve such problems and realize sustainable
resource circulation to recover the global environment, there are at least two
methods to employ. One is the way to recover the target substances andconvert them into beneficial substances, and the other is to decompose or
detoxify the target substances.
The vertical axis shows where the degree of development of technology,
from technologies that are already at the commercial stage to those thatremain in the initial laboratory stage. Therefore, the lower left of the matrix isthe area and field for challenging R&D to be promoted in Moonshot R & D
Program, where recovery is difficult and development remains in the earlystages.

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Fig. 1. Science and Technology Map for the Cool Earth and the Clean Earth(2) Research subject for realization of the MS Goal
The lower left quadrant in Fig.1 is the area and field for challenging R&D to
be promoted under the Moonshot R & D Program. R&D should proceed withkeeping the following points in mind. In order to have the most effective andefficient countermeasure, the most cutting edge scientific trends shall beresearched and used for R&D. In conducting R&D, various sources and typesof knowledge and ideas will be adopted, stage gates will be established, andevaluation will be conducted to promote R&D to achieve the Goal.
In addition, from the viewpoint of smoothly implementing research results insociety, a system that enables researchers in various fields to participate in
ethical, legal, and social issues will be considered.
＜The Cool Earth＞
・ R&D shall contribute to the recovery of the global environment, which is the
MS Goal, and shall be challenging theme, except for ongoing national projects
but including NEDO Feasibility Study Program.
・ One example is DAC. In that case, R&D shall be evaluated as a total system
including utilization of captured CO2 and energy sources.
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・ From the viewpoint of GHG reduction, R&D for materials other than CO2 forwhich the global warming potential ratio is high and its emission is large, suchas N2O and others, may be targeted.
・ Assuming total system and considering cost and energy balance, target for thedevelopment theme shall be set.
＜The Clean Earth＞
・ R&D shall contribute to the recovery of the global environment, which is the
MS Goal, and shall be challenging theme, except for ongoing national projects
but including the NEDO Feasibility Study Program.
・ One example is marine biodegradable plastic. Based on the Roadmap for
Marine Biodegradable Plastics, the development of new materials which
provide marine biodegradability and have equal to or higher performancecompared with the plastics currently used in various applications may betargeted. In that case, the new material shall provide a function which is not
currently realized (such as the function to control the timing of degradability,
the function of degradability works appropriately in various marine
environments, and the biological safety of degradability including intermediate
products generated by decomposition).
(3) Direction of research and development for realization of the MS Goal
○2030 (Output target)<The Cool Earth>
Development of circulation technology on a pilot scale for reducing greenhousegases, that is also effective in terms of life cycle assessment (LCA).
<The Clean Earth>
Development of technology on a pilot scale or in a form of prototype thatconverts environmentally harmful substances into valuable or harmlessmaterials.
○2050 (Outcome target)<The Cool Earth and The Clean Earth>6

Realization of sustainable resource circulation to recover the global
environment. Commercial plants or products utilizing circulation technology will
be deployed globally.
For large-scale operations of resource circulation activities in 2050, thedeployment period of large-scale facilities is to be ensured, assuming theestablishment of demonstration facilities and pilot facilities necessary for thesubsequent technological development in stages. Therefore, as of 2030, the goal
is to establish several pilot plants and demonstration facilities with theestablishment of the technology.
Fig. 2 shows the schematics timeline in 2030, 2040, 2050, and beyond, forachieving targets through the Moonshot projects.

Fig. 2. Timeline for realization of the MS Goal

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＜Reference：Analysis for realization of the MS Goal＞
Summary of content which is analyzed in the Initiative Report presented inMoonshot International Symposium is shown, as follows.
①The Cool Eartha) Current status
Regarding global warming, there are many gases called greenhouse gases.
Characteristics of 7 major greenhouse gases, which are subject to be reported,are described in Table 1.
As is well known, CO2 has an overwhelming influence, but CH4 and N2O also
have a certain influence.
Table 1. Characteristics of 7 major greenhouse gases

Fig. 3, 4, and 5 show increase of annual greenhouse gas emissions andconcentration, and increase of atmosphere temperature, respectively. The
temperature continues to rise consistently, and its speed is about 0.1 °C per 10
years.

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Fig. 3. Greenhouse gas emission trend [2]Fig. 4. Greenhouse gas atmospheric concentration trend [3]Fig. 5. Atmospheric temperature rise trend [4]9b) Approach
The countermeasures for each greenhouse gas are described below.
○CO2
The CO2 utilization flow chart concerning the biggest issues in global warming
is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 CO2 capture and utilization flow chart
There are already some implementations of CO2 recovery from exhaust gas
combustion, which contains high concentration of CO2, by absorption, adsorption
and membrane.
On the other hand, few R&D regarding CO2 recovery from the atmosphere has
yet been carried out, because CO2 concentration is as low as 400 ppm.
The recovered CO2 can be stored underground and contained (Storage; CCS),
or can be converted into fuel and/or various chemicals as a raw material (CCU).
If CO2 is converted to fuel and burned, fuel consumption can be reduced throughcirculation. If the various chemicals converted from CO2 are distributed in themarket, the consumption of conventional fossil resources can also be reduced.
At present, although there is some commercial implementation, most of CCU
activities are at the R&D stage and further development should be encouraged.
Regarding CO2 removal from the atmosphere (negative emission technologies),
there are some examples shown in Table 2. In these examples, DAC (Direct Air
Capture) is the only purely-technological pathway which does not affect the10natural environment. All the other pathways are likely to become unstable, or
could cause unexpected results. Therefore, DAC is selected as a target subjectof technological development.
Table 2. Summary table of pathways in the carbon dioxide removal portfolio,
highlighting strengths, weaknesses and indicative technical potential [5]In 2050, CO2 emissions must be reduced considerably, but not all theemissions can be stopped due to technology and cost constraints, and thus acertain amount of emissions is inevitable. In order to realize net zero emissionsof greenhouse gases in the second half of this century as mentioned in theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2 °C scenario, negativeemissions with the equivalent amount to the remaining emissions are necessary.
Therefore, a considerable amount of capacity is expected for DAC.
DAC is now underway with some technologies and efforts as shown in Table 3
and 4. Various R&D initiatives have been carried out for conversion and utilization,and some are already implemented. [6] But these technologies have low efficiency
and high energy consumption. By significantly improving these issues, DAC and
CO2 utilization should be realized with feasible cost for deployment, and should11be effective also in terms of LCA.
Table 3. Examples of technology currently used in DAC [7][8][9]Table 4. List of major characteristics on DAC pilot plant [5][8][10][11]Up to this point, this report has focused on CO2. However, in order to achieve
the IPCC 2 °C scenario, it is also necessary to take measures against
greenhouse gases other than CO2, which account for approximately 24% of thetotal.
○CH4
CH4 has negative impact following CO2 on the environment. The main sourcesof CH4 emissions are associated with fossil fuel production, livestock, landfills,
waste and agriculture. [12] In fossil fuel production, some efforts have been madeagainst the gas accompanying natural gas mining. In livestock, the gas
discharged from cows accounts for a significant amount. There is a possibility ofusing biotechnology as a countermeasure against the emission from livestock. In
landfills, waste, and agriculture, although there is also a possibility of using
biotechnology, no effective solution has been found.
○N2O
For N2O, major artificial emissions originate from nitrogen chemical fertilizer
used in agriculture (Fig. 7). In response to the global population increase, suchfertilizer has been used for efficient food production and sprayed over farmland
12with excess amounts of the levels capable to be absorbed by plants. The excess
fertilizer remaining in the farmland flows out, through rainwater and groundwater,
into rivers and then into lakes and oceans. Thus, the target area against the N2O
emissions seems to be widespread. However, it is actually not a large area on a
global scale as for the case in CH4. Therefore, it is sufficiently possible to circulate
N2 from N2O by controlling the behavior of N2O emissions in the environment,such as lake bottoms, originating far from the fertilizer in the farmland. Although
it has not been implemented yet, some R&D has been conducted as shown in
Table 5.

Fig. 7. Breakdown of N2O sources [12]Table 5. Examples of technology for the circulation of N2O [13][14][15][16]○Fluorine compounds
Out of the 7 major greenhouse gases, four gases are fluorine compound gases.
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These have a large global warming potential, but the impact on global warming
is small (as its absolute amount is small). These fluorine compound gases are
not naturally derived nor generated from a wide range, and the emission sourceis almost entirely limited to refrigerant gas or the like. Because of thesecharacteristics, an appropriate recovery process before being released to theatmosphere is reasonable. Therefore, regulatory management is appropriate.
②The Clean Eartha) Current status
Looking at the current status in Japan, harmful substances include various
exhaust gases (NOx, SOx, PM2.5 and etc.), liquid drainage (oil, nitrogen,phosphorus, organic substances, etc.), and soil wastes (metals, organic
pollutants, etc.) are regulated by law. However, nitrogen compounds are partiallyleaked to the environment even under regulations. This is one of the reasons why
nitrogen has already exceeded the planetary boundary limits of high risk level. As
shown in Fig. 8, the nitrogen compounds are leaked to the environment, including
N2O derived from chemical fertilizers, NOx in exhaust gas and nitrogencompounds contained in industrial wastewater.

Fig. 8. Conceptual diagram of nitrogen circulation
Plastic garbage is one social problem that has leaked into the environment. Fig.
9 shows the amount of waste plastic and its treatment status in Japan.
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Waste plastic which outflows from land to sea has become a global problem.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that 9 million
tons of plastic flow into the sea annually (Table 6). It is said that as many as 700
species in the sea, including endangered species, have been damaged by plastic
tangles or accidental ingestion of plastic, so there are concerns about the adverse
impacts on food chains and ecosystems. Protecting the richness of marine
ecosystems is one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
So technology development for solving this problem should be addressed. For
reducing marine plastic litter, waste management including recycling systems isnecessary. In addition, it is effective to introduce biodegradable plastics.

Fig. 9.Treatment status of waste plastic in Japan [17]15Table 6. Sources of plastic pollution reaching the marine ecosystem [18]b) Approach○Nitrogen compounds
Conventionally, NOx in exhaust gas is denitrated by ammonia. The remaining
NOx has been released into the environment with its low concentration.
Nitrogen compounds in waste water from industry have also been released
into the environment with their low concentration.
The circulation technology regarding NOx and nitrogen compounds, which iseffective even for very low concentrations, is expected. Since it is still at thelaboratory level, there is no example of social implementation. Examples ofpossible circulation technology are shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Examples of technology for the circulation of nitrogen compounds[19][20][21][22][23][24]○Marine plastic litter
Regarding the actions for marine plastic litter, Fig. 10 shows the resource flowusing biodegradable plastics. It is not necessary to replace all conventional hardto-decompose plastics with biodegradable plastics. This is because even if it is16difficult to decompose, it does not necessarily flow into the sea if properly
managed and processed. On the other hand, it is necessary to introduce
applications preferentially where biodegradability is suitable, such as applications
that have a high possibility of spilling into the marine ecosystem or where use inriver, lake, marsh, and marine takes place.

Fig. 10. Plastic resource flow with biodegradable plastics
Biodegradable plastics can be returned into the environment by becoming CO2,
nitrogen, and oxygen that lead to large ground, marine and air resource
circulation.
Compared to the amount and type of microorganisms and enzymes in the soil,
those in the sea are overwhelmingly less. Therefore, the development of plastics
which decompose in the sea is more difficult than those that decompose in soil.
Even under such circumstances, R&D on biodegradable and detoxifying plastics
has already started, but the variety of such marine biodegradable plastics arelimited. In general, plastic products fulfill its function by blending multi kind ofplastic materials or by multi-layered plastics, rather than the single plastic material.
If various functions are performed by increasing the kind of marine biodegradable
plastics, it expands the usage and it contributes to the dissemination, therefore,
development of plastics providing marine biodegradable capability is necessary.
It is also noted that plastic products use not only plastic materials but also organic
substances other than plastic material, such as, additives, surface treatment
agent, pigment, paint and glue, and therefore, marine biodegradability of such
substances shall be considered in designing the plastic products.
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Examples of the products which have been commercialized and marketed areshown as below.
• Polylactic acid• Fatty acid polyester• Polyvinyl alcohol
In addition, state-of-the-art efforts to add a function (switch function) to control
the start time and speed of biodegradation at the design stage have also recently
started.
There is the application for which a biodegradable plastic having a so-calledswitch function capable of purposely biodegrading. For example, fishing gear isused mechanically, such as rewinding, so that it easily flows out into the sea when
the net breaks. However, it is very beneficial for it to not decompose and maintaina predetermined performance while used as fishing gear. Thus, it has a functionthat starts to decompose when it flows into the sea but not when it is being used.
Since it is still at the laboratory stage, there are no examples of social
implementation. Examples of possible biodegradable plastic technology to add aswitch function are shown in Table 8.
Table 8. Examples of biodegradable plastic technology to add switch function[24][25][26][27]18

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