NETL Director Brian Anderson will join other Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory directors to discuss the future direction of their laboratories’ energy research as part of a Business Forum during the 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF) September 21-23 in Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

The event, a joint convening of the 13th Clean Energy Ministerial and the 7th Mission Innovation ministerial brings together energy leaders from around the world to turn clean energy ambition into action and accelerate the transition toward a more secure energy future. GCEAF will work to empower communities and the next generation of the clean energy workforce, recognizing their integral role in the energy transition. The theme of the Forum is Rapid Innovation and Deployment.

NETL was part of a partnership between DOE and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) that helped plan the Forum. Most events will occur in the Convention Center. For additional information about the landmark event, visit the GCEAF web site.

Anderson will be joined on his panel by Steve Ashby, director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Vanessa Chan, director of the Office of Technology Transitions; Martin Keller, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and John Wagner, director of the Idaho National Laboratory. The Business Forum segment of the overall GCEAF event consists of seven rooms inside the Convention Center featuring different topics. One specific room where the lab directors will appear, is dedicated to DOE Lab activities under the title, “Tech to Market Partnering Studio.”

“The Global Clean Energy Action Forum comes at a pivotal time because the world is on the cusp of an important transition,” Anderson said. “We will look back at 2022 as the year the U.S. led the world by taking key steps to build a new energy economy that benefits all, improves energy security, tackles climate change and develops clean energy markets. NETL and DOE’s other national laboratories play key roles in those endeavors.”

DOE Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm will convene the landmark event which will be attended by cabinet level officials from more than 30 countries including industry leaders, innovators, youth, labor, civil society and others to accelerate innovation, deployment and market uptake of clean energy solutions, from renewables, to abated fossil energy, nuclear and new technologies.

GCEAF will feature high-level events, topical roundtables with energy and science ministers, CEOs and experts, side events and technology demonstrations.

Secretary Granholm will be joined by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey; Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; CMU President Farnam Jahanian; and Inaugural Fellow of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University David Sandalow in welcoming participants.

Among a long list of notable speakers over the course of the three-day event will be John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate; Faith Birol, executive director of the international Energy Agency; Tom Wolf, governor of Pennsylvania; Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the international Atomic Energy Agency; Elizabeth Shuler, president of AFL-CIO; Ali Zaidi, White House deputy national climate advisor; and Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council.

The technology showcase is a key component of the forum and offers opportunities to showcase solutions that are accelerating and demonstrating progress towards shared clean energy goals.

Pittsburgh, home to one of NETL’s three major energy research facilities, is an ideal location for the event. Over the last century, the Pittsburgh region underwent an extraordinary energy and environmental transformation. Once known exclusively as a heavy industry center reliant on fossil fuels, Pittsburgh now ranks among the top cities in the United States for fostering innovation in clean energy, green buildings and advanced manufacturing solutions.

Secretary Granholm said Pittsburgh is, “a town that exemplifies how a legacy energy and industrial-dependent economy can be transformed into a technology and innovation powerhouse.”

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.