Most Nations Woefully Underinvest in Clean Energy Innovation Despite Pledges, ITIF Analysis Shows

WASHINGTON—Mission Innovation—the global initiative to catalyze action and investment in research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of clean energy innovations—has fallen far short of its goals, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy.

Mission Innovation 1.0 launched during the UN Climate Change Conference in 2015 (COP21), with 23 countries and the European Union pledging to double their public investments in clean energy RD&D by 2020. Those that reported on their progress at all managed only a 16 percent increase in collective spending—and even less as a share of their economies. Undeterred, they launched “Mission Innovation 2.0” with a new set of pledges in 2021. But two years on, most are still woefully underinvesting in clean energy RD&D, ITIF’s analysis shows.

“Mission Innovation has mostly been talk with little action,” said ITIF President Dr. Robert D. Atkinson, who authored the report. “It’s not too late for member countries to remedy this. But policymakers need to understand: Accelerating clean energy innovation remains the single most important step governments can take to help address global climate change.”

Among ITIF’s findings:

• The United Kingdom was the only country that met its Mission Innovation 1.0 goal of doubling investment in clean energy RD&D by 2020, achieving a 113 percent increase. Although, Spain met its goal by 2021, as did France by 2022. Six countries actually decreased their investments during Mission Innovation 1.0.
• As a share of GDP, member countries’ collective public investments in clean energy RD&D increased just 14 percent from 2015 to 2020.
• From 2020 to 2022, eight countries then reduced their investments as a share of GDP: Denmark (-53 percent), Belgium (-30 percent), Chile (-21 percent), the Netherlands (-19 percent), Norway (-12 percent), the United States (-9 percent), Japan (-6 percent), and the United Kingdom (-2 percent). And Finland’s share was down 8 percent as of 2021.
• Chile, Australia, and the EU were all significantly underinvesting as a share of GDP compared to other Mission Innovation members—both the end of Mission Innovation 1.0 and as of the most recently available data in 2021 or 2022.

If Mission Innovation is to regain credibility, ITIF’s report concludes it must impose two new conditions upon its members:

1. They must report reasonably accurate, timely, and transparent data.
2. They must increase clean energy RD&D at least twice as fast as GDP growth until they achieve funding levels equal to 0.1 percent of GDP.

Nations that refuse to do this should not be allowed to be members, according to ITIF.

“Mission Innovation needs to put real resources behind its promises,” said Atkinson. “Otherwise, the grandiose aspirations to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 will be just that: goals that remain unmet.”

Read the report.