NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., will serve as a panelist at the 7th IEF-KAPSARC Thought Leaders’ Roundtable – Energy Security and Advancing Technology, Innovation and Investment on Thursday, Feb. 17, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The International Energy Forum (IEF), which includes energy ministers from 71 countries, and the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), will host the roundtable. Anderson will speak at the opening discussion session — Energy security and moving innovation and clean energy technologies fast forward — from 1:15 to 2:30 a.m. ET.

Proceedings will be livestreamed on multiple platforms. Click here to register and review the roundtable agenda. An archive of IEF-KAPSARC Thought Leaders’ Roundtables is posted online.

“At NETL, we are leading the development of transformational technologies to address the climate crisis, decarbonize energy production and create job opportunities in new clean energy industries while ensuring affordable and reliable supplies of electricity,” Anderson said.

“NETL is a global leader in carbon management technologies and decarbonization strategies and a major partner in the worldwide effort that’s needed to address the climate crisis. It’s important that NETL take part in this international roundtable to discuss the significant progress we are making through research conducted by our internal teams of scientists and engineers and in collaboration with the private sector and academia,” Anderson added.

Anderson will highlight recent landmark legislation that positions the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL to significantly expand their roles in the development of technologies to lower atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, modernize the grid and accelerate the deployment of clean energy solutions.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) includes $62.5 billion for DOE, the largest single allocation of funding received by the department since its creation in 1977. The IIJA support will be instrumental in developing the technologies to achieve the Biden administration’s goals calling for net-zero carbon emissions in the power sector by 2035 and the broader economy by 2050

The IIJA provides funding for 60 new DOE programs and expands funding for 12 existing programs. Funding is included to enhance the resilience of the electric infrastructure against disruptive events such as extreme weather and cyber-attacks and to develop research hubs focused on clean hydrogen production and other new technologies.

Anderson also will explain NETL’s unique strengths to address high-priority energy challenges and discuss international alliances that are best positioned to accelerate investment in innovative, clean technology and energy infrastructure.

Under Anderson’s leadership, NETL leverages its technical competencies to advance a research portfolio that includes more than 1,000 projects and activities and works with more than 600 partners from small and large businesses, national research organizations, colleges and universities and other government laboratories to conduct early-stage transformational and applied energy research.

In April 2021, President Biden named Anderson executive director of the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. In this role, Anderson strategically leverages NETL’s resources and expertise to help ensure the shift to the clean energy economy creates good-paying union jobs, spurs economic revitalization, remediates environmental degradation and supports energy workers in coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities across the country.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.