White House Budget Proposal Signals Intent to Continue Accelerating Investment in Clean Energy RD&D
WASHINGTON—Following the release of the Biden administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Ed Rightor, director of ITIF’s Center for Clean Energy Innovation:
The president’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year is encouraging because it signals the administration intends to continue accelerating the pace of clean energy innovation. Enacting this budget as proposed would sustain the momentum of federal programs funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law and last year’s budget.
The United States has begun to ramp up its investment in research, development, demonstration, and early deployment of promising climate solutions. Continuing this trajectory while maintaining the reliability and affordability of the U.S. energy system is vital to avert the worst impacts of climate change and to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. climate-tech developers and manufacturers.
ITIF Senior Policy Analyst Hoyu Chong added:
The new budget proposal includes $16.5 billion in climate and clean energy innovation funding at the Department of Energy and other agencies. Even with recent increases, federal funding for energy innovation continues to lag far behind spending on other national innovation priorities, such as health and defense, and it trails that of many other nations as a share of the economy. ITIF calls on Congress to support investment in innovation that is commensurate with the scale of the challenges and opportunities involved in the global transition to a clean-energy economy.
Republicans and Democrats have different priorities for clean energy policy. Still, there is bipartisan support in important areas such as expanding RD&D spending and investing in national lab infrastructure. Congressional action will be particularly vital to support technologies that have not yet entered the market, such as advanced nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, enhanced geothermal, and long-duration energy storage.
For more on this issue, see:
- Hoyu Chong, “An Unenergized America: A Midterm Assessment of U.S. Energy Funding” (ITIF, March 2023).
- Hoyu Chong and David M. Hart, “Further Energizing Innovation in Fiscal Year 2023” (ITIF, May 2022)
- Hoyu Chong, “Filling the Gaps in Federal Clean Energy R&D Investment in FY 2023 and Beyond” (ITIF, May 2022).
- David M. Hart and Stefan Koester, “Midterm Outlook for Energy Innovation Policy” (ITIF, October 2022).
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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized by its peers in the think tank community as the global center of excellence for science and technology policy, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.
