METI: R&D and Social Implementation Plan Formulated for the “Promotion of Carbon Recycling Using CO2 from Biomanufacturing Technology as a Direct Raw Material” Project

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has formulated an R&D and Social Implementation Plan that summarizes the content of “Promotion of Carbon Recycling Using CO2 from Biomanufacturing Technology as a Direct Raw Material” project that will be implemented using the Green Innovation Fund.

1. Background and purpose
Toward the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, METI has established a Green Innovation Fund at a level of 2 trillion yen under the FY2020 Tertiary Supplementary Budget and decided to assign the projects’ operation to the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Based on specific goals shared by the public and private sectors, the government will provide continuous support over the next ten years to companies and other organizations that are committed to taking on challenges toward achieving these ambitious goals as issues that are critical to their businesses. The support will assist efforts ranging from research and development (R&D) through demonstrations to social implementation of the outcomes.
In order to ensure proper and efficient execution of the fund, the Green Innovation Project Committee under the Industrial Structure Council finalized the Fund Allocation Policy for Each Field. Based on this policy, field-specific working groups established under the Committee deliberate on issues such as the priority and appropriateness of the amount to be implemented by the fund for each project. Then, the divisions and offices in charge of the project at the responsible ministries and agencies formulate the content of each project as an “R&D and Social Implementation Plan,” and start calls for applicants. Today, METI formulated an R&D and Social Implementation Plan for “Promotion of Carbon Recycling Using CO2 from Biomanufacturing Technology as a Direct Raw Material” project based on discussions by the Working Group on the Field of Industry Structure Transformation.

2. Main content of the R&D and Social Implementation Plan for “Promotion of Carbon Recycling Using CO2 from Biomanufacturing Technology as a Direct Raw Material” project
Biomanufacturing is one of the leading options for achieving a carbon-neutral society.
These projects foster and strengthen business platforms that modify microorganisms that play a key role in biomanufacturing and companies and businesses involved in large-scale fermentation production and other processes that use CO2 as a direct raw material. They also promote carbon recycling through biomanufacturing utilizing the CO2 fixation abilities of microorganisms to the fullest extent possible and using CO2 as a raw material. In addition, they aim to build value chains spanning from CO2 raw material suppliers to product manufacturers and promote upscaling for commercial production and sophistication of manufacturing technology, in turn transforming industrial structures through the social implementation of new products created from biomanufacturing that use CO2 as a raw material.