Despite of differences in energy politics and supply, Japan and Germany have to master similar challenges: To reorganise the energy supply system with the objective to attain a system which in a long-term shall be reliable and low in risk, resource-friendly and widely climate-neutral. At the same time, the ecological modernisation should maintain, or even strengthen the international competitiveness. To better face these challenges in the future, a bi-national energy transition council between the two high-tech countries Germany and Japan will be established within the frame of the project.
The Council's work is focussed on the scientific exchange of knowledge in the field of energy sector issues and mutual learning. On the basis of good and successful examples from both countries, new and long-term perspectives on the way of an ambitious energy transition shall open up. The Council as a whole meets twice a year, alternately in Germany and Japan. On the basis of several meetings with high-ranking representatives from politics, science and civil society in Japan and Germany, a comprehensive organisation concept for the Council has been developed.
In the first phase of the project, the Council members are appointed (incl. associated members) and research questions for five studies are formulated which will be elaborated by leading institutions in the field. The results of this study programme as well as further analyses by the scientific secretariats will support the Council's work. Results will be documented continuously and made available for politics, economy and civil society.
On the German side, the Wuppertal Institute supports the Council's work as the scientific secretariat. In Japan this role is played by the renowned Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ). Prof. Dr. Peter Hennicke, former president of the Wuppertal Institute and idea-giver to establish a German-Japanese Energy Transition Council, is functioning as co-chair in cooperation with his Japanese colleague Prof. Masakazu Toyoda. ECOS Consult is responsible for the organisational support and contributes with its long-standing competence in Japanese-German projects.