Fact Sheet: U.S.-Japan Cooperation on Clean Energy Technologies

President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama met on November 13, 2009 in Tokyo. The two leaders affirmed the intent of the United States and Japan, as the two leading global investors in energy research and development, to expand already strong cooperative activities in technology research and development to provide solutions to the challenges of global energy security and climate change. They announced initial areas for joint activities to strengthen their cooperation that include:

•      Acceleration of joint activities between national laboratories of the United States and Japan through R&D cooperation, exchanges of information, knowledge and researchers, workshops and conferences, and collaboration on standards research;

•      Establishment of a task force that will evaluate the achievements of existing clean energy projects in Hawaii and Okinawa to enable the islands to be energy independent, including micro-grid projects, and develop activities to help the two islands share experiences and knowledge with each other;

•      Deepening of cooperation in the area of smart grid through such activities as information and experience sharing from demonstration projects, and development of standards;

•      Cooperation on carbon capture and storage including modeling, testing and data sharing for the purpose of prediction and mitigation of the possible risks, and the development of new capture methods, simulation tools and monitoring methods;

•      Strengthened partnership on nuclear energy including on advanced fuel cycle technologies, effective use of existing facilities and enhanced seismic safety technologies, recognizing both countries play an important role in global expansion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy in a manner ensuring nuclear non-proliferation, safety and security;

•      Enhancement of cooperative research, development and deployment activities in additional areas including basic research, renewables, energy efficient buildings, and next generation vehicles; and

•      Close cooperation on energy issues and the development of joint projects in multilateral frameworks including the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), International Energy Agency (IEA), the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP), the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and especially, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which Japan chairs in 2010 and the United States in 2011.