Wednesday, July  6
 PL-1 
“Evolution direction and environmental contribution of ICEs toward carbon neutrality”
Mr. Eiji Nakai, Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan

Discussions about which power source should be used for vehicles in order to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 are ongoing. Mazda believes that it is vital to provide power source of vehicles depending on the power-supply structure of each region under the multi-solution concept. Considering that ICEs are expected to be installed on the majority of vehicles produced and sold worldwide as of 2030, ICEs will surely play a major role in environmental conservation and need to keep on evolving. Opinions about future evolution and environmental contribution of ICEs will be presented.

Thursday, July 7  
PL-2
“Recent advances and remaining needs for science-based optimization of internal combustionengines”
Dr. Paul Miles, Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, USA

Despite the recent advances of electrified powertrains, improvements in the efficiency and emissions of the internal combustion engine will be needed to meet global goals of CO₂ emission reduction and to protect local environments. These improvements will rely to a significant extent on science-based optimization using the computational models that have been developed over the last four decades. This presentation reviews modeling advances in several key areas, many of which were first described during the early COMODIA meetings, and identifies key areas where further progress is needed not only to improve performance and emissions but to also adapt engine technologies to future renewable fuels.

PL-3
“The role of the internal combustion engine in defossilized energy systems”
Prof. Michael Bargende, Institute of Automotive Engineering Stuttgart (IFS) University of Stuttgart, Germany

Combustion engines move the world! There are currently around 1.4 billion vehicles on the world's roads, of which more than 99% are powered by internal combustion engines. We will only achieve global climate neutrality if we reduce this stock of CO2. The article will deal with synthetic fuel alternatives, both from the point of view of CO2 avoidance and a CO2 circular economy (“the carbon cycle”). Which fuels have the greatest future prospects? And which fuels and engine technologies are used to achieve the best levels of efficiency when driving? The future will belong to the electrified combustion engine. The speech will also pursue this thesis.