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- Göran Berndes
Professor, Chalmers University of Technology / Leader of IEA Bioenergy Task 45 - Göran Berndes is Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. His research integrates land use, industrial, transport and energy systems at scales ranging from local case studies to the global context. He has a broad interest in sustainability issues related to land use and biomass, with a particular focus on how the use of bio-based systems can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation while reducing environmental impacts of current land use.
Berndes has contributed to four IPCC reports, most recently as coordinating lead author of the Sixth Assessment Report. He has been involved with IEA Bioenergy since 2007 and currently leads Task 45 - Climate and Sustainability Effects of Bioenergy within the Broader Bioeconomy. At Chalmers, he leads the profile Energy in a Circular Economy within the Chalmers Energy Area of Advance.
- Göran Berndes
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- Chun Sheng Goh
Program Officer, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) - Chun Sheng (CS) Goh serves as Programme Officer (Bioenergy) at IRENA since August 2023. He holds a Ph.D. from Utrecht University, where his research focused on trade and sustainability of bio-resources. CS gained experience working in the Malaysian government, where he oversaw the implementation of National Biomass Strategy. He then spent several years at the United Nations University in Tokyo and the Harvard University Asia Center, where he authored the monograph ‘Transforming Borneo: From Land Exploitation to Sustainable Development’. Prior to joining IRENA, he managed the Master’s Programme at the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development. CS has contributed reports to various organisations including FAO, WWF, UNSDSN, Asia Foundation and Forever Sabah, and was a regular columnist for Borneo Post.
- Chun Sheng Goh
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- Christian Rakos
President, World Bioenergy Association (WBA) - Christian Rakos studied Physics, Philosophy and History. From 1988-1998 he worked at the Institute for Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 1998 he joined the Austrian Energy Agency where he was responsible for renewable energies with a special focus on bioenergy. From 2004 to 2005 he worked at the Irish Renewable Energy Information Office as European projects manager. Since mid 2005 he is executive director of the Austrian Pellet Industry Association “proPellets Austria”.
From 2010- 2016 he was president of the European Pellet Council. Besides managing proPellets Austria he is CEO of Save Energy Austria Ltd., a company producing and trading energy efficiency certificates. Since May 2020 Rakos is president of the World Bioenergy Association.
- Christian Rakos
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- Gerard Ostheimer
Campaign Co-Manager, Clean Energy Ministerial, Biofuture Campaign - Gerard Ostheimer, Ph.D. serves as the Manager of the Clean Energy Ministerial Biofuture Campaign.
The Campaign works to enable the substitution of sustainable bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials for their fossil-based equivalents by connecting Bio-based Industries to international processes.
Previously, he served as a Science Advisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture during which time he contributed to finalizing the Global Bioenergy Partnership Indicators of Sustainable Bioenergy Production and Use.
Obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Oregon and did postdoctoral work in Cancer Systems Biology at MIT.
- Gerard Ostheimer
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- Takahisa Yano
Director, Biomass Group, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) - In his current position since November 2021. He is responsible as project manager for the "Bio-jet Fuel Production Technology Development Project" and the "Support Project for Establishing a Stable and Efficient Supply and Utilization System of Woody Biomass Fuel, etc." Since joining NEDO in 1997, he has been involved in the management of numerous national projects in the fields of bioengineering, medical device development, and bioenergy.
- Takahisa Yano
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- Shisei Goto
Deputy General Manager, Biomass Material Business Div. / General Manager, Business Transformation Promotion Office, Nippon Paper Industries - Shisei Goto, Ph.D., is the General Manager of Business Transformation Promotion Office, which was established in 2021. He is coordinating new business developments related to carbon neutrality, such as biorefineries that mainly use woody biomass materials and carbon recycling, and a member of the Planning Committee of Bioeconomy Committee in Keidanren. Since joining Nippon Paper Industries in 1995, he has been engaged in R&D regarding paper chemistry and wastepaper recycling for about 25 years and has won many awards from Japan TAPPI and international Pulp and Paper Technology Associations for his research on recycling. After studying abroad at McMaster University in Canada, he served as an International committee member of the Research Forum on Recycling. In 2007, he completed the doctoral program at the University of Tokyo Graduate School and received a doctoral degree in agriculture.
- Shisei Goto
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- Masato Endo
Advisor, Sustainability Promotion Department, Sustainability Division, Morinaga Milk Industry - He joined Morinaga Milk Industry in 1987, and since 2006 has been working on the conversion of coffee grounds and food waste into energy by combining methane fermentation and biomass boilers at the Kobe Plant as part of a NEDO-commissioned research project. He has been a member of the International Dairy Federation's Standing Committee on Environment since 2013, and from 2020 to 2022 he was the executive director of the Japan Dairy Industry Association (on secondment), vice president of the Plastic Packaging Recycling Council, and director of the Paper Packaging Recycling Council.
- Masato Endo
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- Yu Kuki
President, Biomass Aggregation - He has been in his current position since 2014. Specializing in consulting related to woody biomass, he is engaged in supporting local government planning and community-based commercialization of woody biomass throughout Japan. In Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, he was involved in the establishment of Energy Agency Tsushima Co. which provides ESCO-type heat supply services using biomass, and serves as its president. He has also served as a committee member of government and municipal offices, engaged in national policy research and proposals. He is also a board member of Japan Woody Bioenergy Association.
In 2017, he moved from Tokyo to Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, where he is currently leading a public-private partnership for zero-carbon city planning as a coordinator. In 2023, he founded Kohoku Energy Co. and became its president.
- Yu Kuki
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- Yoshiyuki Fujishima
Global Chief Researcher, Norinchukin Research Institute - Yoshiyuki Fujishima, D.Phil., is a Global Chief Researcher in Norinchukin Research Institute in Japan. He had worked for Ajinomoto Co. Inc. for over 27 years in the area of biotechnology and food product R&D as well as research planning and management. During the Ajinomoto days, his assignment extended to working in Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA) for 3 years and in Japan’s government funding agency New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for 3 years. He is a bureau member of OECD’s Bio, Nano and Converging Technology working party and is the Japan’s Biotechnology Expert in Business in OECD Advisory Committee (BIAC). He has knowledge in Bioeconomy and circular economy, research skills in polymer chemistry, biology and has reasonable understanding in human nutrition and health science.
- Yoshiyuki Fujishima
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- Tomas Kåberger
Chair of Executive Board, Renewable Energy Institute - Tomas Kåberger has been the Chair of Executive Board of Renewable Energy Institute since its foundation in 2011. Academically, he got an MSc in Engineering Physics, a PhD in Physical Resource Theory, and Docent in Environmental Science at Chalmers. He has been professor in International Sustainable Energy Systems at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, and he is currently affiliate Professor of Industrial Energy Policy at Chalmers University of Technology.
Industrially, he has had leading roles in companies providing fuels and technology in the bio-energy industry, another company developing sustainable energy solutions for the automotive industry, and a company operating wind power plants. Currently he serves on the board of Persson Invest, a company building wind and solar plants and a retailer of cars, trucks and busses; increasingly electric. He is also the Chairman of the Swedish Delegation for a Circular Economy.
He has served as Director General of the National Swedish Energy Agency, Board of Director of the power company Vattenfall, and as member of the Swedish Climate Policy Council.
Other key positions he has held include board of the Swedish and European environmental citizens organizations, government committees and commissions on energy and environmental policy in Sweden, as well as member task forces under China International Council for Cooperation on Environment and Development.
He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Swedish Society of Energy Economists.
- Tomas Kåberger
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- Mika Ohbayashi
Director, Renewable Energy Institute - Mika Ohbayashi is Director at Renewable Energy Institute since its foundation in August 2011. Before joining the Institute, from 2010 to 2011, she worked in Abu Dhabi for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as Policy and Project Regional Manager for Asia Oceania. Prior to that, she worked at the British Embassy to Japan as Climate Change Project Advisor from 2008 to 2009, and served as Director at the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies from 2000 to 2008. She started her career in the energy field by joining the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in 1992. In 2017, she was awarded the ISES Global Leadership Award in Advancing Solar Energy Policy - in honour of Hermann Scheer by the International Solar Energy Society.
- Mika Ohbayashi
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- Takanobu Aikawa
Senior Researcher, Renewable Energy Institute - Takanobu Aikawa joined Renewable Energy Institute in 2016. Previously he was at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting and conducted research and consulting on the forestry industry. Spurred by the Great East Japan Earthquake, he began to engage in a variety of bioenergy projects, mainly focusing on woody biomass. From early on, he has paid attention on bioenergy sustainability issues, and since April 2019 he has been a member of the Bioenergy Sustainability Working Group at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He holds his master’s degree in forest ecology from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University and received a doctorate in agricultural studies on human resources development policy in the forest management at the Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University.
At Renewable Energy Institute, he specializes in bioenergy policies and focuses on research on sustainability of woody biomass, the development of medium to long-term strategies and is also responsible for collaborating with local governments for promoting renewables.
- Takanobu Aikawa
