Questões para Concursos

Text I

Clean energy: Experts outline how governments
can successfully invest before it’s too late

asd Governments need to give technical experts
more autonomy and hold their nerve to provide more
long-term stability when investing in clean energy,
argue researchers in climate change and innovation
5 i policy in a new paper published today.
asd Writing in the journal Nature , the authors from
UK and US institutions have set out guidelines for
investment based on an analysis of the last twenty
years of “what works” in clean energy research and
10 i innovation programs.
asd Their six simple “guiding principles” also include
the need to channel innovation into the private sector
through formal tech transfer programs, and to think in
terms of lasting knowledge creation rather than ‘quick
15 i win’ potential when funding new projects.
asd The authors offer a stark warning to governments
and policymakers: learn from and build on experience
before time runs out, rather than constantly reinventing
aims and processes for the sake of political vanity.
20 asd “As the window of opportunity to avert dangerous
climate change narrows, we urgently need to take
stock of policy initiatives around the world that aim
to accelerate new energy technologies and stem
greenhouse gas emissions,” said Laura Diaz Anadon,
25 i Professor of Climate Change Policy at the University
of Cambridge.
asd “If we don’t build on the lessons from previous
policy successes and failures to understand what
works and why, we risk wasting time and money in
30 i a way that we simply can’t afford,” said Anadon, who
authored the new paper with colleagues from the
Harvard Kennedy School as well as the University of
Minnesota’s Prof Gabriel Chan.
asd Public investments in energy research have risen
35 i since the lows of the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
OECD members spent US$16.6 billion on new energy
research and development (R&D) in 2016 compared
to $10b in 2010. The EU and other nations pledged
to double clean energy investment as part of 2015’s
40 i Paris Climate Change Agreement.
asd Recently, the UK government set out its own
Clean Growth Strategy, committing £2.5 billion
between 2015 and 2021, with hundreds of million
to be invested in new generations of small nuclear
45 i power stations and offshore wind turbines.
asd However, Anadon and colleagues point out that
government funding for energy innovation has, in
many cases, been highly volatile in the recent past:
with political shifts resulting in huge budget fluctuations
50 i and process reinventions in the UK and US.
asd For example, the research team found that every
single year between 1990 and 2017, one in five
technology areas funded by the US Department of
Energy (DoE) saw a budget shift of more than 30%
55 i up or down. The Trump administration’s current plan
is to slash 2018’s energy R&D budget by 35% across
the board.
asd “Experimentation has benefits, but also costs,”
said Anadon. “Researchers are having to relearn
60 i new processes, people and programmes with every
political transition -- wasting time and effort for
scientists, companies and policymakers.”
asd “Rather than repeated overhauls, existing
programs should be continuously evaluated and
65 i updated. New programs should only be set up if they
fill needs not currently met.”
asd More autonomy for project selection should be
passed to active scientists, who are “best placed to
spot bold but risky opportunities that managers miss,"
70 i say the authors of the new paper.
asd They point to projects instigated by the US
National Labs producing more commercially-viable
technologies than those dictated by DoE headquarters
— despite the Labs holding a mere 4% of the DoE’s
75 i overall budget.
asd The six evidence-based guiding principles for
clean energy investment are:
asdasd • Give researchers and technical experts more
autonomy and influence over funding decisions.
80 asdd • Build technology transfer into research organisations
asasdd • Focus demonstration projects on learning.
asdasd • Incentivise international collaboration.
asdasd • Adopt an adaptive learning strategy.
85 aasd • Keep funding stable and predictable.
asd From US researchers using the pace of Chinese
construction markets to test energy reduction
technologies, to the UK government harnessing
behavioural psychology to promote energy efficiency,
90 i the authors highlight examples of government
investment that helped create or improve clean
energy initiatives across the world.
asd “Let’s learn from experience on how to accelerate
the transition to a cleaner, safer and more affordable
95 i energy system,” they write.

Available at: releases/2017/12/171206132223.htm>.
Retrieved on: 28 Dec 2017. Adapted.