Global Public Energy RD&D Expenditures Database

This visualization depicts global public investments in energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) since 2000 and until the most recent year data is available, collated by the Climate Policy Lab. When selecting data display options below, please note that some of the data filters will update or become inactive based on your selected data display options.

What is this database and how has it been compiled? 

Climate Policy Lab is pleased to provide a comprehensive database covering public expenditures in energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) for countries that have declared an interest in and commitment to innovation in clean energy technologies. While building this database over the past two decades, we used both primary and secondary data sources to provide as granular data as is currently available.

For the countries that are members of the International Energy Agency (IEA), we use the data collected by the IEA, which provides a detailed and publicly accessible data collection of energy RD&D public investment. For the BRIMCS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, China, and South Africa), we provide data that we have collated from various sources, and we document these sources in a separate excel sheet. For Mexico and Brazil, the visualization uses data collected by Climate Policy Lab. For the United States, we use data collected by Gallagher & Anadon, accessible here. Data also includes reporting to Mission Innovation, an initiative created alongside the Paris Climate Agreement to accelerate government spending on clean energy research. In several cases, countries disclose an aggregated number without further detail on the composition per technology. In other cases, countries report granular data (e.g., about a particular program or grant), but we have not been able to trace how these figures are reflected in the primary sources. We aimed to identify these discrepancies and help fill gaps. Documentation of data sources is provided. This blogpost includes more details about the data collection.

Does the data include energy expenditures of state-owned-enterprises? 

While some of the IEA member countries include the expenditures of their state-owned-enterprise (SOE) into the budget they submit to the IEA records, some countries don’t. For the BRIMCS countries, we collect the SOEs’ expenditures separately, and they are not included in the budgets published here. A separate dataset and visualization is under development. 

Acknowledgement

This database builds on efforts originally pioneered by Kelly Gallagher, Ambuj Sagar, John Holdren, Laura Diaz Anadon, and Ruud Kempener, and Jose Condor Tarco in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s at the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Details are accessible in this discussion paper and this article. We are thankful for collaboration and constructive feedback from Dr Simon Bennet and his colleagues at the International Energy Agency.

Further data and reading on energy RD&D

The granular database for the US :

• Gallagher, K.S. & Anadon, L.D. (2022). DOE Budget Authority for Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Database. The Fletcher School, Tufts University; Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge; and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School. 

We have published the following articles on energy technological innovation: 

• Myslikova, Z., Jaffe, A., & Gallagher, K. S. (2022). Shielding and expanding Mission Innovation. Nature Energy, 7(9), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01115-5

• Zhang, F., Gallagher, K. S., Myslikova, Z., Narassimhan, E., Bhandary, R. R., & Huang, P. (2021). From fossil to low carbon: The evolution of global public energy innovation. WIREs Climate Change, 12(6), e734. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.734

• Myslikova, Z., & Gallagher, K. S. (2020). Mission Innovation is mission critical. Nature Energy,5(10), Article 10.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00694-5

• Myslikova, Z., Gallagher, K.S., & Zhang, F. (2017). Mission Innovation 2.0. Recommendations for the Second Mission Innovation Ministerial in Beijing, China. The Center for International Environment & Resource Policy. Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, (014)

• Gallagher, K. S., Anadon, L. D., Kempener, R., & Wilson, C. (2011). Trends in Global Energy-Technology Innovation. WIREs Climate Change, 2(3), 373–396. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.112

Data for Download

Earlier versions of the dataset will be accessible here in the future. 

Suggested citation:

• Myslikova, Z., Gallagher, K. S., Zhang, F., Narassimhan, E., Oh S., & Chi, K. (2023). “Global Public Energy RD&D Expenditures Database.” Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School, Tufts University. Accessed [date].

Sources

The source of the data for the IEA member countries, unless specified differently, is:
IEA (2023), Energy Technology RD&D Budgets, Energy Technology RD&D Budgets - Data product - IEA. All rights reserved.

The sources and citations for the data collected for the non-IEA member countries are included in a sheet of the Excel file linked to above in the “Download Latest Data” button.

What data to submit and how:

We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvements to the data. We aim to establish an open collaborative platform to gather data on energy RD&D spending, especially for countries that only report this spending in local documents. If you identify documents that carry information relevant to this database, such as government reports, reports on programs for any segment of the RD&D, complete the form below.

When you submit data and share information, please indicate how you calculated the monetary values, including the currency, base year and exchange rate, and whether it is an amount per year or a different period. The more complete the information, the better we will be able to integrate it.

We look forward to your input!