Science, technology and innovation policies for net zero – News
Achieving international climate goals such as net zero by 2050 hinges on dramatically scaling up clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And having those technologies ready in time hinges on rapid accelerations in innovation. Recent years have seen tremendous progress in technologies such as solar photovoltaics, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries, but the technological advances that are needed to achieve net zero demand a further step change in both the speed at which innovation occurs and the scale at which the resulting technologies are deployed.
Science, technology and innovation (STI) policies therefore are of pivotal importance in reaching net zero. Besides funding research and development (R&D) efforts in universities, public labs, and business firms, governments play a particularly central and wide-ranging role in setting overall national STI objectives and priorities for net zero, ensuring the flow of knowledge between different parts of the innovation system, investing in enabling infrastructure, and facilitating major demonstration projects.
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