Message from the President August.2022

The world is supposed to urgently work toward the realization of a sustainable society. To realize a sustainable society, 17 sustainable development goals, the SDGs, have been set. The SDGs are supposed to be achieved by 2030.
The agenda for the SDGs includes the achievement of sustainable development in three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner. This means that humans first need to have a healthy global environment so that they can engage in sustainable economic and social activities and realize a sustainable society.

When I focus my attention on goals 7. AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY, 9. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE, and 13. CLIMATE ACTION,I believe that hydrogen is an important option for solutions. When you burn hydrogen, you get only water. It emits no carbon dioxide (CO2). Thus, hydrogen is expected to be used in many different ways as the ultimate eco-energy.

I could say that we need to handle hydrogen in an integrated fashion. In addition to using hydrogen, we need to produce, store and transport it. We need to build a hydrogen supply chain where we produce, transport and use hydrogen. Many companies in Japan have already conducted demonstrations of each stage of the process, aiming for decarbonization.

The main use of hydrogen is in mobility. In the mobility industry, clean energy vehicles that use new energy, such as electricity and hydrogen, in place of oil have been put into practical use. Automobile manufacturers in different countries have been manufacturing new vehicles, primarily electric vehicles (EVs). However, EVs cannot generate power, although they have the ability to store electricity. As a result, their travel range is a problem. Fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs), which use hydrogen fuel, have the ability to generate power and are likely to overcome the travel range problem.
Meanwhile, the development of hydrogen powered vehicles which have engines that burns hydrogen is rapidly accelerating. The potential of mobility using hydrogen is attracting more and more attention.

If a hydrogen supply chain is built, hydrogen may be an energy source that plays a central role. If that happens, there will be a major game changer in industry. I ask engineers to strive to develop new technologies and products together with customers that will change the game, leveraging the techniques that you have accumulated and new techniques that you will acquire, instead of just continuing the things that you have been doing, and to contribute to achieving a global common goal: the realization of a sustainable society.