National Institute for Resources and Environment(NIRE) was originally established in 1920 as the Fuel Research Institute(FRI). FRI was merged with Mining and Safety Research Institute (established in 1949) into the Resources Research Institute(RRI) in 1952. RRI was reorganized into the National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources(NRIPR) in 1970. NRIPR was further reorganized into NIRE in 1991 to accelerate its research activities on global environment.