Pathways to Net Zero:The Impact of Clean
Energy Research

Analytical Services

Executive summary

Achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will require therapid development and deployment of clean energy technologies.
Research is essential to the success of this clean energy transition. This
report examines the state of play in clean energy research over the last
20 years and provides expert insights into potential pathways forward.
The world is facing an unprecedented threat. Risinggreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from burning fossil fuelsand deforestation are leading to global heating that is
destabilizing the climate, putting lives, livelihoods and entire
ecosystems at risk. 1 The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement 2
aims to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change
and limit global temperature rise to no more than 2°C above
pre-industrial levels. To achieve this goal, countries areaiming to reach net zero emissions by mid-century-----a point
representing the balance between unavoidable GHG
emissions and their removal from the atmosphere, throughreforestation or carbon capture and storage technologies.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 3
developing and deploying clean energy technologies iscritical to achieving net zero by the agreed deadline of 2050.
The IEA has stated that ‘‘as the major source of global
emissions, the energy sector holds the key to responding to
the world’s climate challenge.’’ 4 In practical terms, achieving
net zero globally will require a two-pronged approach:curbing human-produced emissions and removing carbon
from the atmosphere.

the effects of COVID-19, society’s understanding of andresponse to the looming climate crisis will gain pace.
The development and deployment of clean energy entails far
more than just technological advancement. The scope of therelevant research is enormous, encompassing solar, wind,bioenergy and other clean energy sources, the economics ofelectric power systems, infrastructure, energy storage,
batteries for electric vehicles, smart home technologies, data
security and privacy, to name but a few. All of these elements
are critical to ensuring that clean energy plays its required
role. In addition, a successful transition to net zero will
require the engagement of corporates, governmental policies
and intergovernmental agreements, and buy-in from thepublic.
This evidence-based report presents an analysis of a set ofover 1.6 million research publications (identified from the
Scopus database 5) and 800,000 patents published between
2001 and 2020, with the aim of advancing our understanding

Many countries have already committed to reach some formof net zero by 2050, and as the world comes to terms with

1 IPCC. (2021). Climate change 2021: The physical science basis. Contributionof Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Masson-Delmotte, V., etal. (eds.). Cambridge University Press. In Press.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
2 United Nations. (2015). Paris Agreement. Article 2, p. 3.
https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

3 IEA. (2021). Net zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy sector.

https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

4 See https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

5 Scopus is Elsevier’s abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed

literature, covering 84 million documents published by some 7,000
publishers. For further details, see
https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus

2

Executive summaryof clean energy research and innovation and the pathways
toward achieving a net zero future. Throughout this report,
we refer to this publication set as ‘‘NØEnergy research’’.
Our bibliometric analyses encompass global research output
and funding, disciplinary diversity, international
collaboration between the Global South and North, the roleof corporates and their interaction with academia, as well as
the evolution from basic to applied research and, ultimately,
the transition from research to patents. We also examine,using altmetrics, how NØEnergy research is currently
regarded by policymakers and the wider media.
In addition to our data-based quantitative analysis ofNØEnergy research, this report includes in-depth interviews
with a wide range of international experts. Their uniqueperspectives highlight some of the multifarious aspects ofachieving net zero, both the obstacles and the opportunities
presented by the transition to clean energy.
This report is aimed at global funders, policymakers, research
funders and leaders, as well as researchers in fields related toclean energy. Readers can use the snapshot of the NØEnergy
research and innovation landscape presented here to
pinpoint their own position and identify emerging trends
and potential opportunities. We hope this report will support
readers’ decision-making processes regarding the future
direction and focus of research and innovation efforts, withthe aim of reaching net zero by 2050.

Key findings
Over the last 20 years, the share of publications in NØEnergy
research among all research output has risen: NØEnergy
publications contributed to 1% of the total global output in
2001, increasing to 5% in 2020. China’s research output has
increased year on year since 2001, and the volume of its
publications in NØEnergy overtook that of the United Statesin 2012. Although the United States is still a significant player
in this area, its share of total research publications in thefield has reduced somewhat over the last two decades.
NØEnergy research goes beyond traditional individual
disciplines to encompass a much broader spread of data,expertise and knowledge, emphasizing the importance of amultidisciplinary approach.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research“The climate crisis is as much arural problem as an urban one,
economic and human, domestic
and international. This meanstransformation is required at every
level of society: individuals,
employers, institutions andinternational partners will need towork together to understand thetrade-offs, agree compromises andseize opportunities. And just as
scientists are pooling insights fromdiverse fields of expertise,policymakers will need to work in
new ways, sharing ideas acrossdisciplines to plot a clear path fromhere to net zero. This is a wholesystems challenge.”
Patrick Vallance (UK Chief Scientific Adviser).
(2021, August 9). The IPCC report is clear:nothing short of transforming society will
avert catastrophe. The Guardian.

3

Executive summary

International collaboration in the field has increased fromjust over 30% in 2011 to 45% in 2020. This is a positive sign
as energy challenges are global and international
collaboration enables shared learning, producing researchwith a broader impact. However, our findings also indicatethat levels of collaboration across scientific disciplines in thefield are not above average. This is a concern because
pooling diverse skills and perspectives from different
disciplines is more likely to lead to research outcomes able totackle grand societal challenges, such as climate change. IfNØEnergy research continues to achieve average levels ofcross-disciplinarity, the field may not have the necessaryinterdisciplinary reach to realize the large-scale technical andsocietal changes needed to achieve net zero.
The outlook and reach of NØEnergy research must be global,
but our analysis finds that only a small proportion ofresearch in the field is conducted in and for the Global
South. These countries-----defined as Upper-Middle-Income,Lower-Middle-Income and Low-Income Countries by theWorld Bank-----are likely to be disproportionately affected byclimate change and are potentially among the least able todeal with or mitigate against its worst effects. While there arepositive indications from the growing number of Global
South researchers in the field and their levels of collaboration
with Global North and Chinese research powerhouses, thesemodest improvements to date may be insufficient to meetthe challenges ahead. Clearly, there is still plenty of room toimprove and increase Global North---South collaboration,
which should be a priority for NØEnergy research policies in
the future.
As might be expected from a field that needs to transition
from basic research to technological innovation, publicationsin applied technology have increased substantially, by morethan 20 percentage points over the past two decades. While
Singapore, with its expertise in materials science and allied
fields, produces proportionally the largest share of basicNØEnergy research among the top producers, South Korea
and Japan are more focused on applied research andDenmark has the largest share of publications in applied
technology.

6 Professor Patricia Thornley is the Director of the Energy and Bioproducts

Research Institute at Aston University in the United Kingdom. An
Advisory Group member for this report, she was not formally interviewed

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research“This report looks at what
research is being done: is it
enough, is it in the right places? Is
it sufficiently collaborative? This isbeing done to guide funding andresearch strategy decisions, butalso to guide the sorts ofmechanisms that researchers
deploy to enhance international
and interdisciplinary
collaborations; shining a light on
the places where we need to do
more to meet targets.”
Patricia Thornley, Director, Energy andBioproducts Research Institute, Aston
University 6

The report also provides insight into the level of maturity ofclean energy technologies and their evolution over time.
Some subfields of NØEnergy research, such as electricalenergy transport and distribution systems, are highly
practical and center on applied technology. Other important
areas such as batteries for electric vehicles and energy
storage are still at the applied research stage.
The transition of research to the deployment of near- or midterm technologies relies heavily on the corporate sector. The
connections between academic and corporate research andthe patenting landscape, which we evaluate in this report,
give an insight into how well NØEnergy research istransitioning into deployable technologies. While(see Section 2 for full interviews) but has provided commentary on thereport.

4

Executive summary

collaboration between academia and industry has increased
over the last 20 years, with Switzerland and the Netherlands
leading the way in the share of co-publications, China is
rapidly catching up. However, our analysis reveals thatNØEnergy publications from corporates are declining andthat few of the largest corporate emitters produce any
significant research output in this field at all.

Conclusions

On a more positive note, we observe strong growth inpatents connected to clean energy technologies, dominatedby the United States, Japan and Germany, although ouranalysis may underrepresent China’s efforts. By 2020, thetotal number of active patents in the field reached 800,000,
with exponential growth over the last 10 years driven in largepart by China, indicating that the transition from research to
deployment is accelerating.

More targeted, coordinated research in key areas, together
with more collaborative efforts between the Global North andSouth, as well as initiatives by and for the Global South, arerequired to ensure that all countries and regions have accessto the expertise and technologies needed to build capabilities
at the local level to tackle climate change and make progress
toward net zero. The success of the clean energy transition
depends on buy-in from the Global South because thesecountries have the potential, in their legitimate efforts
toward social and economic development, to neutralize thebenefits accrued from achieving net zero. As Leon Clarke,
University of Maryland, points out in his interview in thisreport, addressing climate change requires everyone’s
involvement and one of the most consistent and significant
challenges is ensuring that all countries have the capacity
needed to make progress toward net zero.

Addressing climate change is a matter of urgency, but ouranalysis finds that NØEnergy research receives only slightly
more attention from policymakers and a wider online
audience than other areas of research. Nevertheless, thisresearch is finding its way into international policies andinforms the work of organizations such as the World Bank,Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and
Wuppertal Institut. But to effect the wide-ranging societal
changes that will be needed to achieve net zero, the researchcommunity, funders, policymakers and other stakeholders
may need to focus more heavily on topics with societal
relevance and communicate the impact of research moreclearly.

“Global warming is much morecritical than we expected 30 years
ago, so we need to accelerate ourprogress.”
Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman, Mitsubishi
Research Institute, Inc.; President, PlatinumSociety Network; 28th President, Universityof Tokyo

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

While the indicators are positive for NØEnergy research andthe transition to a net zero future, more effort and urgency
are needed globally if the mid-century deadline set out in the2015 Paris Agreement is to be reached and the worst effects
of climate change are to be avoided.

This report also identifies signs of the growing emergenceand significance of the digitalization of energy systems.
Cyber security and data privacy issues will be crucial to the
future of interconnected clean energy systems and will also
create demand for new skills and expertise.
The transition to net zero and clean energy technologies
holds the potential for enormous economic benefits too. The
invention and development of innovative technologies could
form the basis of a thriving, competitive economy and avibrant, fair energy infrastructure. The transition could
revitalize local manufacturing and economies globally,
supported by a skilled clean energy workforce.
Innovation and development, through collaboration
nationally, internationally, between the Global North andGlobal South, and between academia and industry, must
accelerate. Better sharing of knowledge and technologicalknow-how between the Global North and South will enabledecision-makers to select the clean energy technologies best
suited to their needs. The push to adopt net zero approaches
and clean energy technologies must be driven bypolicymakers and governments globally, as well as society
more broadly. More research is needed to know which

5Executive summary

policies and investments are most effective and why, learningfrom successful examples around the globe. This research
could also help us understand how to deploy what Chukwuka
Monyei, University of Sussex, refers to in his interview as a

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research‘‘human-centered approach to driving clean energy
technology … [with] coherence between governments andpeople’’. Achieving net zero will, crucially, necessitate buy-infrom society as a whole.

6Preface

Although much progress has been made over the decades, our world still faces
multiple societal, economic and environmental challenges. At Elsevier, ourmission is to help researchers and health professionals advance science andimprove healthcare outcomes through quality information and analytics. We arecommitted to support the communities we serve in tackling the greatest
challenges they face. Few, if any, are more significant than the climate crisis. We
have all seen the escalating effects of climate change in recent years, includingchanges in seasonal temperatures, rain and snow patterns, and intensity ofevents such as floods and wildfires in many geographies. As we approach the26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, the need totackle the environmental emergency is in sharp focus.
Kumsal Bayazit
CEO, Elsevier

Elsevier is a proud signatory of the Climate Pledge. We hold ourselves
accountable to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. We support a range
of initiatives and work in partnership with the communities that we serve towardachieving our climate goals. To guide our efforts, we use data, combined with
content and subject-matter expertise, to gain unique insights into how research
can accelerate innovation in clean energy and mitigate climate change.
This study, analyzing more than 1.6 million research papers from our Scopus
database, is one such contribution. It is designed to support evidence-led policy
decisions and action by creating a picture of the clean energy research that
advances our understanding and provides pathways to achieve net zero(NØEnergy research).
Strong agreements and action are pivotal to curbing climate change. However,
it's not only world leaders who have a crucial role in reaching net zero. A global
community of researchers is focused on developing new technologies,
techniques and understandings to help us fight climate change.
The data-led insights provided in this report give an encouraging picture of the
progress clean energy researchers are making in providing the tools to reach net
zero. It shows growth in funding, collaboration, output, ambition and maturityof research that should make us all proud.
Publications in NØEnergy research have grown from 1% of all researchundertaken in 2001 to 5% in 2020. That's a move from 16,000 to 170,000
research papers per annum over this period. That research has also shifted frombeing predominantly fundamental analysis to having a greater emphasis on theapplication of the knowledge. As a result, research published on applied
technologies has grown by 20 percentage points over the past two decades.
Over 100,000 patents focused on NØEnergy have been registered over the lastPathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research7Preface

three years, as businesses and research facilities alike look to create clean energy
technologies. This is encouraging news when policymakers and organizations
are looking for solutions to climate change that can make an impact now.
However, there is one area in particular where we, as a research community, cando more. While countries worldwide have stepped up research into NØEnergy,
and in particular China has grown to become the largest contributor toNØEnergy research in terms of overall publications and patents, thecollaboration between the Global North and the developing countries of the
Global South, which will be most affected by climate change, has not grown at
the same pace. Global South countries collectively contributed to just 21% ofNØEnergy publications from 2001 to 2020. Despite being perceived as the best
way of tackling science-based development challenges, North---South
collaborations account for just 6% of NØEnergy research publications.
Strengthening North---South collaborations is one way to ensure the Global
South benefits from global research on NØEnergy.
Ultimately, this study provides a snapshot of the development of NØEnergy
research over the last 20 years, providing insight into where we can improve andwhere the opportunities are. We need to do more given the urgency and scale ofthe challenge; corporations and world leaders can do more to boost vital
research and funding; we need to ensure the Global South is a larger part of theresearch efforts. At Elsevier, we are committed to play our part with initiatives
such as The Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge, RELX
Environmental Challenge, the Climate Advisory Board, our NetZero by 2040
commitment and the International Publishers Association’s commitment totackle climate change.
We hope this report offers actionable insights to help us navigate the mostsignificant challenge our planet faces. It suggests that there is far more to comeand that the science of net zero is progressing with the commitment of researchcommunities, but we need to move faster to ensure that scientific innovation isconverted into real-world application to limit global warming.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research8Foreword

The latest UNFCCC NDC Synthesis report 7 shows the implementation of theParis Agreement is progressing, with 70 signatory Parties set to reducegreenhouse gas emissions by an average of 26% by 2030. While we are notahead in the race, we do show promise. Elsevier’s report Pathways to Net Zero:The Impact of Clean Energy Research is launched just in time for COP26 andoffers trends, opportunities and best practices in clean energy-related researchand its subsequent contribution to the unanimous goal, set in Paris, ofachieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Ban Ki-moon
Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for
Global Citizens, 8th Secretary-General of
the United Nations
Image: © Caio Kauffmann

Elsevier’s report, the first in a series, emphasizes the importance of crosssectoral and inclusive partnerships when it comes to providing access toaffordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030-----in line with
the Paris Agreement. It presents data that will enable informed decisions whendrawing up roadmaps and joint action among all stakeholders around the world
to influence the path forward for clean energy in terms of funding, diversity,
innovation and policymaking. By now, we all know that we need a paradigm
shift to heal our relationship with planet Earth and for leaders in government,
the private sector, financial institutions, civil society and philanthropies to drive
faster action before it’s too late.
In this regard, I must commend China, the European Union, Japan, South
Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States for being the major
contributors to clean energy research publications. Yet we must give the stage
to those who are most affected by climate change and its impacts. Therefore,
future research efforts and publications must include significantly more insightand data from the Global South.
To successfully adapt to the transition ahead it is important to evaluate every
country’s carbon emission reduction effort to accomplish our universal net zero
goal in time. The international community as a whole needs to implement
unwavering measures to transform our fossil fuel-based energy systems into
sustainable systems based on renewable energy. Even though the pandemic
exacerbated existing challenges, we have more opportunities than ever for agreen recovery: we have the chance to make greater progress toward theimplementation of the Paris Agreement than we did before.
Transition toward renewable energy sources should not be perceived as achallenge. On the contrary, this transformation will provide new opportunities
to modernize our energy systems, diversify economies, create green jobs,

7 See https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/ndc-

synthesis-report

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

9Foreword

increase productivity levels and evidently reduce poverty. I hope the insights
provided in this detailed report will nourish new discussions and empower
united actions that embrace both future industries and future generations toachieve the Paris Agreement’s net zero goal by 2050.
To achieve the global goal of net zero emissions, the outcomes of clean energyrelated research should be accepted as one of the global common goods. Theinternational community should embark on discussing specific mechanisms to
make them available in developing countries without barriers. A small step inthis direction is the availability of the report’s data set through the International
Center for the Study of Research, 8 specifically for use by researchers.
In this regard, this report carries added importance.

8 See https://icsr.net

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

10

Contents

Executive summary2

1.11 How much policy and media attention doesNØEnergy research receive?

102

Preface7

Section 2

112

Foreword

9

Contents

11

Introduction

12

Section 1

15

Bibliometrics: large-scale trends in NØEnergy
research
1.1 How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001? 16

Interviews with key opinion formers
Prof. Pablo Arboleya

113

Prof. Franklin Carrero-Martínez

115

Prof. Leon Clarke

118

Prof. Dabo Guan

121

Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama

123

Joan MacNaughton

126

Dr. Chukwuka Monyei

129

Kariuki Ngari

132

1.2 Who funds NØEnergy research?

25

1.3 What are the national trends in NØEnergy
research?

32

Prof. Yutao Wang134

1.4 How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

45

Section 3136

1.5 How internationally collaborative is NØEnergy
research?
55

Conclusion and future outlook

1.6 How does the Global South participate inNØEnergy research?

59

Appendix A

141

1.7 How mature is NØEnergy research?

71

Appendix B

144

Appendix C

150

About

152

1.8 What are the academic---corporate collaboration
trends in NØEnergy research?
77
1.9 What role do corporates play in NØEnergy
research?

81

1.10 How does NØEnergy research translate into
patents?

88

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

11Introduction

This report presents an analysis of clean energy research, using
bibliometrics and altmetrics to reveal the research and innovation
landscape, level of global collaboration and scope of technologicaldevelopment, and the field’s prominence in policymaking and the
media.
There are many pathways to reach net zero. Here, in the firstof a planned series of reports, we provide a broad
introduction to the impact of clean energy research on
achieving net zero. Subsequent reports will delve moredeeply into a selection of specific research questions andtechnologies identified in this analysis.
Using bibliometric and altmetric approaches, this reportanalyzes clean energy research output and trends, researchfunding, disciplinary diversity, international collaboration,
the participation of the Global South and North, and the roleof corporations and their collaboration with academia. The
pathways from basic to applied research, from research topatents, and from research to policy are also examined. The
report concludes with some further questions arising from
our investigations.

IPCC definition of net zeroThe IPCC Glossary distinguishes between theterms carbon neutrality, net zero and climate

neutrality.
In brief, carbon neutrality entails balancing
emissions of anthropogenic CO2 with theirintentional removal from the atmosphere. Thisis also referred to as net zero CO2 emissions.
Net zero represents the same concept but
applied to all GHG emissions, not just CO2.
Climate neutrality is the state whereby
anthropogenic activities have no net effect on“Data are the foundation of goodstrategy. If you don’t know where
you are and what’s going on, you
can’t develop a good strategy.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability,
University of Maryland at College Park

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

the climate system as a whole. The IPCC
Glossary notes, ‘‘Achieving such a state would
require balancing of residual emissions withemission (carbon dioxide) removal as well as
accounting for regional or local biogeophysicaleffects of human activities that, for example,
affect surface albedo or local climate.’’For the full definitions and others, see the
IPCC Glossary:
https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/glossary/12Introduction

By analyzing the contribution of research and innovation to
the development and implementation of clean energy
technologies, this evidence-based report aims to drive
forward knowledge and debate on this urgent global andsocially significant challenge.

Building the publication set
Achieving net zero requires a very broad base of research,which brings a challenge in defining the scope of analysis.
Before explaining the path we chose to follow in this report,
we would like to acknowledge that our approach and scope is
not necessarily perfect nor definitive.
The analyses in this report are based on publication andcitation data from peer-reviewed research literature, policyrelated documents, funding acknowledgments and patent
information from Elsevier’s Scopus database, SciVal and
PlumX, LexisNexis’ PatentSight, and Overton’s policy
database.
Capturing clean energy research related to net zero required
the use of a diverse set of publications indexed in the Scopus
database. 9 These publications focus on different methods
and technologies for reducing emissions and removing
carbon from the atmosphere. The analyses conducted hererequired the creation of a publication set that could capture
all facets of this broad research field.
In Scopus, the search query ‘‘net zero’’ returns just over 1,000
documents, while just under 10,000 documents are
identified when additional terms such as ‘‘decarbonization’’,‘‘carbon neutral’’ or ‘‘zero carbon’’ are employed as well.
However, as noted above, research on clean energy related to
net zero is very broad and our analysis necessitated an
approach that captures all relevant work beyond these
specific terms. For this reason, we based our publication set
on two existing Scopus publication sets relating to theUnited Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one
on Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7) and the other on
Climate Action (SDG 13).
SDG 7 and SDG 13 are the most relevant to clean energy
research as a pathway to net zero. While the SDG 7
publication set captures most research related to curbing
emissions, an important body of work associated with carbon
removal, particularly carbon capture and storage, is
9 See https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

The Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
launched by the United Nations in 2015, aredefined as ‘‘the blueprint to achieve a betterand more sustainable future for all’’, byaddressing the global challenges we face.
Since their launch, Elsevier has worked withthe research community to map the landscapeof sustainability science, starting with the

Sustainability Science in the Global ResearchLandscape report (2015), developed with
SciDev.net. Since then, we have mappedpublications in Scopus to 16 of the 17 SDGs,
combining expert-led search queries withmachine learning models.
The methods and queries for the SDG
publication sets are available here:
https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datas
ets/9sxdykm8s4/1

encompassed by the SDG 13 set. Our overall publication set
therefore encompasses all the publications related to SDG 7,
as well as those from SDG 13 relevant to clean energy.
In the report, we refer to the resulting publication set as‘‘NØEnergy’’, a term which will be used from here onwards.
Our analyses focus on the period 2001---2020, from theemergence of the term net zero to the last complete year ofdata in Scopus at the time of data extraction.

Understanding research areas using
SciVal topic clusters
The NØEnergy publication set based on our specific search
queries generated a single but very large data set. We used
SciVal topic clusters to analyze the broader area of NØEnergy
in a more granular way. 10 Most of the report focuses on the
10 See https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scival/features/topic-prominence-in-science13

Introduction

largest topic clusters within the NØEnergy publication set interms of scholarly output; however, given the importance ofsome areas, such as carbon capture and storage, to achieving
net zero, we also include such relevant and related topic
clusters, which might not appear among the most published.
Publications in Scopus are categorized into more than
97,000 topics using an algorithm that considers the citation
linkages between publications. Since topics are based on
citation patterns and not journal categories, they are
multidisciplinary. Topics are aggregated into over 1,500 topic
clusters using the same algorithm. Both topics and topic
clusters are mutually exclusive: a publication belongs to only
one topic and only one topic cluster. Using topic clusters
gives us the advantage of viewing the NØEnergy researchlandscape from the bottom up. Topic clusters are named by
the three most relevant key phrases within the cluster-----forexample, Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission
Networks | Electric Power Distribution or Deforestation |Forest | Conservation. Distinct key phrases are extractedusing the Elsevier Fingerprint Engine, a text-mining softwaresystem. 11
Further technical details of the methodologies, tools andanalyses used here are provided in the Appendices.
The report is officially launched at the Times Higher
Education Climate Impact Forum on 28 October 2021, aheadof the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) inNovember 2021. Electronic copies can be downloaded at:https://www.elsevier.com/connect/net-zero-report
The data set used in this report is available to subscribers of
SciVal and for free to researchers via the ICSR Lab:https://icsr.net/icsrlab/
To commission a customized derivative report, please visit:https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/request-aconsultation“When we think about net zero, thescope of what’s relevant from a
research perspective is enormous. It
encompasses so much of societythat it really makes it hard to think
about how to scope that down,because everything that you’ve got,
you have to get down to zero.
“That means that nothing gets left
on the table. It calls for a verybroad perspective on what yourresearch is, and it was interesting
to see this report grapple with thatand try to pull something together
that’s trying to represent the scopeof what’s really needed.”Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability,
University of Maryland at College Park

11 See https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/elsevier-fingerprint-engine

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

14Section 1

Bibliometrics: large-scale
trends in NØEnergy research

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

15

1.1

How has NØEnergy researchgrown since 2001?

In the last two decades, NØEnergy research output has grown rapidly,
from a share of just 1% of all global publications in 2001 to 5% in 2020.
During this period, the total number of publications in NØEnergy
reached over 1.6 million.
The term net zero in the context of clean energy began appearing in scholarly output in the early 2000s(Figure 1), as described in the history of the concept by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. 12

Figure 1
Results of the Scopus search query TITLE-ABS-KEY ( {net zero} AND energy )Source: Scopus
12 See https://eciu.net/analysis/infographics/net-zero-history

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

16Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Over the analysis period of 2001---2020, the annual number ofNØEnergy publications increased continually, from just over
16,000 publications in 2001 to over 170,000 in 2020 (Figure 2),
totaling more than 1.6 million publications over the study
period. At the beginning of our analysis period, NØEnergy
publications contributed to only 1% of the total, but by 2020
this proportion had risen to 5%, demonstrating the growing
significance of the field. Overall, the number of NØEnergy
publications showed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
13.2% between 2001 and 2020, significantly greater than theoverall global output for the same period (4.9%).
However, the growth rate of NØEnergy output has varied overthe last two decades. Initially, global output grew by nearly
17.2% between 2001 and 2010, but it slowed to 8.2% over thelast decade. The growth in overall global research output
demonstrated a similar but less marked trend over the two
periods, with growth slowing from 6.4% to 3.4% in the last
decade. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Russia, however, allbucked the trend, with higher growth in NØEnergy research
output between 2011 and 2020, each country producing morethan 10,000 NØEnergy publications.
Over the same period, the scholarly impact of NØEnergy
research output, as measured by the field-weighted citation
impact (FWCI), remained relatively stable at around 1.4 to 1.5(Figure 3), indicating that this area ranked 40%---50% above theglobal average of 1.0.

Compound annual growth rate
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is
defined as the year-over-year constant growthrate over a specified period of time. Startingwith the first value in any series and applying
this rate for each of the time intervals yields
the amount in the final value of the series.
Field-weighted citation impact
The field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) is anindicator of the citation impact of apublication. It is calculated by comparing thenumber of citations a publication receives with
the number of citations expected for a
publication of the same type, publication year
and subject.
An FWCI of more than 1.00 indicates that apublication has been cited more than would be
expected based on the global average forsimilar publications; for example, a score of
2.11 means that a publication has been cited
111% more than the world average.
An FWCI of less than 1.00 indicates that apublication has been cited less than would be
expected based on the global average forsimilar publications; for example, an FWCI
score of 0.87 means the publication has been
cited 13% less than the world average.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

17Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Figure 2
Number of publications in NØEnergy (green line, left-hand y-axis) and the share of NØEnergy publications withinglobal research (gray shaded area, right-hand y-axis), 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research18Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Figure 3
Field-weighted citation impact of NØEnergy publications, 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus

Assessing NØEnergy publications by topic cluster
Over the analysis period, more articles were publishedon lithium-ion batteries, power transmission and grids,
solar energy and energy economics than on other topic
clusters, as shown in Figure 4. Publications in Lithium
Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries accounted
for over 7% of the total, making it the single largest topic
cluster (data not shown).
The prominence of topic clusters relating to computing,smart systems and data-----such as the appearance ofDistributed Computer Systems | Cloud Computing |Clouds or Authentication | Cryptography | Data Privacy inPathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

Topic clusters
A topic cluster is a collection of publications with acommon intellectual interest. Scopus publications
are grouped into topic clusters using direct citation
analysis. Publications are assigned to one-----and one
only-----of 1,500+ topic clusters. Topic clusters are
represented by their three most relevant key phrases,
based on the abstract, title and author keywords ofpublications in that cluster.

19Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Figure 6-----may appear incongruous to NØEnergy research.
However, these areas encompass vital issues relating to theimplementation and integration of smart energy technologies,
for example.
It is also worth mentioning MIMO Systems | Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing | Cognitive Radio here, which

contributed only 0.1% of publications in 2001 but increased
significantly to make up 1.1% of all NØEnergy publications by
2020. This topic cluster addresses a broad range of related
issues associated with digital communications andintegration. Digitalization of energy systems-----for example,
through smart grids, the Internet of Things, cloud computing
and wireless networks-----will help improve the safety,
productivity, accessibility and sustainability of energy
systems. 13 But because these advances also raise new data
security and privacy risks, topic clusters in this area are
emerging as fertile areas of wide-ranging research.

The need to include such diverse topics underlines the broad
impact that clean energy research is having and will continue
to have in the future on consumers and society. Technologies
and their practical use in the real world are an essential part ofachieving net zero, highlighting the need for significant
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. Later sections
will address these various aspects of knowledge transfer.

“Digitalization is not a coretechnology in itself, but it is anextremely important enabling
technology that includes the
deployment of sensors,communications systems, the useof artificial intelligence and theability to manage large volumes ofdata through big datatechnologies.”
Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor andHolder of the Smart Cities Chair,
Universidad de Oviedo

Energy efficiency, wind and solar, hydropower and nuclear, electrification and electric vehicles arehighlighted as key steppingstones in the pathway to net zero in the IEA’s report Net Zero by 2050: A
Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. 14 The largest topic clusters we observe within our analysis ofNØEnergy are partially in line with these key areas, particularly energy efficiency, wind, solar and electricvehicles.
Other topic clusters are present, although not among the largest within the NØEnergy research publication
set. Carbon capture and storage, for example, will be key to achieving and maintaining net zero, but it is
not yet a mature and scalable technology. Of the three main topic clusters in this field, Activated Carbon |Adsorption | Adsorbents has shown continuous growth over the analysis period, whereas output from
Carbon Capture | Storage (Materials) | Shale and Carbon Dioxide | Amines | Flue Gases has fluctuatedconsiderably. In the broad field of bioenergy, the topic cluster Bioenergy | Biomass | Biofuels has remained
relatively stable over the last decade, whereas the number of publications in Microbial Fuel Cells |Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors has more than doubled.

13 IEA. (2017). Digitalization and energy. https://www.iea.org/reports/digitalisation-and-energy
14 See https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

20Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Figure 4
Scholarly output for topic clusters accounting for at least 1% of all NØEnergy publications, 2001---2020. Circles indicate
the field-weighted citation impact, and bars indicate the publication output of the topic cluster.
Source: Scopus“Internet-enabled or Internet-related jobs are going to be critical for the future.
We are looking for people versed in cryptology, in hacking, in the cyber security
space, in different roles that we are not even aware of. This opens up anotherconflict, though: privacy and the ethics of the Internet of the future. How are wegoing to be able to balance issues of privacy, how much information should thegovernment know? How can we encrypt this information? How can it be used,without giving governments too much access to such information, and what it
can be used for and to what purposes…?”
Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy Justice and Transitions, University of Sussex

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

21Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

The distribution of topic clusters changed throughout the
2001---2020 period. Figure 5 shows all the topic clusters that
contributed at least 1% of NØEnergy publications in fivespecific years: 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2020. Lithium Alloys| Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries and Electric Inverters |Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters are the most publishedtopic clusters, with the former increasing its share from 5% toover 11%, far outstripping the other areas.
At the start of the millennium, fusion research-----with the aimof providing infinite clean energy-----contributed the largest
single share of publications in our data set, with the topic
cluster Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices
accounting for over 8% of all publications in NØEnergy. By
2020, however, this proportion dropped to just over 1%. While
the output of most countries and regions in this field has
fluctuated over our analysis period, China’s has increased
continuously. Its research efforts on fusion energy are focusedon the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST)-----nicknamed the ‘‘artificial sun’’-----which is designed toreplicate the nuclear fusion process of the sun.
China’s output in Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic
Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) also increased over the last
decade, in contrast with the other countries that produced thelargest volumes of publications. Silicon Solar Cells | Solar Cells| Silicon saw a sharp decline in output across the board.
Among the other topic clusters that account for notable sharesof NØEnergy publications, Wind Power | Electric Power
Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution,
Photocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis, Wireless Sensor
Networks | Routing Protocols | Sensor Nodes, Wind Power |Asynchronous Generators | Wind Turbines and Ventilation |Buildings | Air Conditioning have become the largest.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research“Looking at Figure 5, given there isso much focus at present in the
media and elsewhere on hydrogen,it is perhaps surprising that it
doesn’t feature higher up in thischart.
“But the big elephant in the roomhere is that bioenergy with carbon
capture and storage (BECCS) is
being assumed to featureprominently in most IPCC and UK
government pathways to 2050,
and if that isn’t being reflected inresearch, we might have quite a big
problem in 5 to 10 years’ time. Is
BECCS a blind spot in global
research activity given its
prominence in global visions?”
Patricia Thornley, Director, Energy andBioproducts Research Institute, Aston
University

22Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Figure 5
Topic clusters that contributed to at least 1% of all publications in 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2020 respectively.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

23Section 1 | How has NØEnergy research grown since 2001?

Other topic clusters that contributed over 5,000 publications in 2011---2020 but accounted for less than 1%of publications overall are listed in Figure 6, in order of their output. Once again, the appearance here of
topic clusters such as Authentication | Cryptography | Data Privacy indicates the growing importance ofbroader issues relating to the implementation and integration of smart energy systems. Further analysis on
the multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity of NØEnergy research is presented in Section 1.4.

Figure 6
Compound annual growth rate for topic clusters that had more than 5,000 publications in NØEnergy for 2011---2020
but contributed less than 1% of all publications.
Source: Scopus“The evolution of batteries, and of solar cells in particular, has beentransformative. We wouldn’t be considering the types of mitigation actions thatcountries are considering today, for over the next 10 years, if we hadn’t seen
those sorts of advances, to the point where photovoltaic cells are frequently
competitive with or even cheaper than, say, coal generation.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability, University of
Maryland at College Park

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

24

1.2

Who funds NØEnergy research?

Chinese funding agencies support the single largest share ofNØEnergy publications by far. While Chinese-funded output increased
between 2016 and 2020, publications acknowledging US funders haveplateaued.
Research and development funding is urgently needed aroundthe globe to support the development of new and improved
technologies to achieve net zero. In this section, we present
information on the funders acknowledged by NØEnergy
research publications, to understand which are the most active,
which topics receive the most support and where funding will
be needed in the future.
Between 2016 and 2020, well over half of the 766,000
publications in NØEnergy acknowledged a funding source.
Over the 2016---2020 period, the National Natural Science
Foundation of China accounted for the largest proportion ofthese publications, contributing to nearly a quarter of the total
and far outstripping other funding bodies (Figure 7). China’s
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
ranked in second position, closely followed by the UnitedStates, with its major funding agencies being the National
Science Foundation and Department of Energy. Outside China
and the United States, the National Research Foundation of
Korea, the United Kingdom’s Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council, the Japan Society for the Promotionof Science and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program
are among the top 10 acknowledged funders. As would be
expected, these agencies are from those countries that publish
the most in NØEnergy.

“In China, the most highly relevant
policy to the topic of net zero is the
carbon-neutral policy proposed in2020. China commits to scale up
its Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions by adopting morevigorous policies and measures. It
aims to have CO2 emissions peak
before 2030 and to achieve carbon
neutrality before 2060. To achievecarbon neutrality, China hasdeveloped detailed energy
transition plans and provided
substantial funding for research
related to the energy transition.”
Yutao Wang, Professor, Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering,
Fudan University

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

25Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

Figure 7
Top 20 funders in terms of funded publications in NØEnergy, 2016---2020.
Source: Scopus

These findings and those in the rest of this section are based upon funding acknowledgment data from
Scopus. While they provide a useful overview, there are some limitations to the data. The first is thecoverage of the database. Of the 28.8 million articles, reviews and conference proceedings published in
Scopus after 2010, 11.2 million contain funding information. 15 Second, not all authors acknowledge funding
sources clearly and therefore we are not able to measure the effect of attribution. Third, funding in someregions-----for example, the European Union-----is spread across multiple different funding programs. Finally,
while data quality has continuously improved over the period of analysis, reference to a funding agency in acontext not relevant to the funding of the research may be captured in error, resulting in a false positive.
We focused on the last five years because acknowledgment data have become more robust in this time, notonly thanks to better coverage but also because more funders have mandated acknowledgment inpublications. The findings presented in this section represent only those publications that can be attributed
to a funder identified in Scopus. We refer to these as funded publications. Publications funded by anagency but not acknowledged by the author(s) are not included. It should also be noted that trends in thevolume of funded publications (the output of funding) may differ from the volume of investment into
research (the input of funding).

15 See https://blog.scopus.com/posts/improvements-to-funding-data-in-scopus-now-165m-articles-with-funding-information-and-easier

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

26Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

The trends in output acknowledging the top 20 NØEnergy
research funders reveal interesting patterns (Figure 8). The
number of funded publications from the US National Science
Foundation and Department of Energy plateaued or declined in
the latter years of our analysis. Over the 2016---2020 period,
output in funded publications from the largest Chinese
funding agencies increased almost across the board. Moregenerally, within the Asia-Pacific region, the number of fundedpublications from South Korean agencies (the National
Research Foundation of Korea and Ministry of Science, ICT and
Future Planning) increased, while that from the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science began to stall in recent years. The
drop in output from some of these funders is to be expected,
however. The European Commission’s Seventh Framework
Programme and Horizon 2020 are time-limited funding
programs, for example. In other cases, such as the ongoing
National Basic Research Program of China (Program 973), thedecrease in attributed output might reflect changes in funding
priorities.
These shifts in funding trends likely reflect changes in priorities
at the national level as new policies are implemented, older
programs are closed and changes in government occur.
Understanding these shifts is vital when evaluating theimportance of a topic on a regional or national level and how
the field might be influenced in the coming years.

“The United States leads the worldin research investments in clean
energy and in the development of anumber of future technologies thatare likely to play a significant rolein achieving deep decarbonization.
However, the United States also
currently struggles to leverage its
leadership in clean energy R&I into
leadership in clean energy markets
and supply chains. If the UnitedStates can maintain its leadershipin the discovery, invention anddevelopment of innovative clean
energy technologies and leverage
its strengths in innovation tocreate a vibrant clean energy
infrastructure, then R&I will serve
as a basis for a thriving economy.”Franklin Carrero-Martínez, Senior Director,
Global Sustainability and Development &Science and Technology for Sustainability,
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering,and Medicine

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

27Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

Figure 8
Annual output attributed to top 20 funders within NØEnergy, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

28Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

Assessing funded publications by topic
The topic clusters accounting for 1% or more of all NØEnergy publications from 2016 to 2020 are shown in
Figure 9. As expected, some of the most prominent topic clusters, such as Lithium Alloys | Secondary
Batteries | Electric Batteries or Photocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis, also have some of the highest
shares of funded publications. However, our analysis reveals that some of the topic clusters with the largest
output, such as Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution andElectric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters have less than 40% funded publications.
In the largest topic cluster, Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries, a number oforganizations reported at least 100 funded publications, which represents at least 50% of eachorganization’s total output. These organizations include Argonne National Laboratory, Vehicle
Technologies Office, and Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States; Shenzhen Technical
Project, National Materials Genome Project, Tip-top Scientific and Technical Innovative Youth Talents ofGuangdong Special Support Program, Central South University, Beijing University of Chemical
Technology, Science and Technology Planning Project of Shenzhen Municipality, and Hunan Provincial
Science and Technology Department in China; the University of Waterloo and Western University in
Canada; Global Frontier Hybrid Interface Materials in South Korea; and BASF in Germany.
By contrast, the share of funded publications in the second largest topic cluster, Photocatalysts | Solar Cells| Photocatalysis, is split between fewer organizations. Of those with more than 100 funded publications, theAustralian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics has the largest share of funded publications (44%), followedby the Spanish group of institutions Generalitat Valenciana (38%).
The IEA’s Net Zero by 2050 report 16 raised the concern that‘‘critical areas such as electrification, hydrogen, bioenergy andcarbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) today receive
only around one‐third of the level of public R&D funding of themore established low-carbon electricity generation and energy
efficiency technologies.’’ Our analysis supports this concern,revealing that while 54% of NØEnergy publications in the
Carbon Capture | Storage (Materials) | Shale topic cluster
include funding acknowledgments, the only agency with morethan 100 publications and a considerable share of fundedpublications (27%) is the US National Energy Technology
Laboratory. The next best, some way behind, is the United
Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council, with only
7% and 56 publications. In the topic cluster of Bioenergy |Biomass | Biofuels, only around 48% of publications
acknowledge funding sources. The leading funders here, withmore than 50 publications and over 10% of funded publicationsin the cluster, are the US National Institute of Food andAgriculture, US Department of Agriculture, Bioenergy
Technologies Office (part of the US Department of Energy) and
UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

“Looking at these data, I’m notsurprised by China’s researchvolume. In a sense, they have whatmight be an advantage: they haveto increase the country’s power
supply and electricity production,and renewables are the cheapest
option.”Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman, Mitsubishi
Research Institute, Inc.; President, PlatinumSociety Network; 28th President, Universityof Tokyo

16 See https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

29Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

Figure 9
Number of NØEnergy publications with an acknowledged funding source by topic cluster for those clusters accountingfor 1% or more publications in 2016---2020. The position of the bubble indicates the output of funded NØEnergy
publications, the size of the bubble indicates the overall output and the percentages outside the bubble indicate theshare of funded publications in that topic cluster.
Source: Scopus

Figure 10 shows the funded output of the top 20 funders and topic clusters where the share in that topic
cluster accounted for 5% or more of the funded output of the agency. This shows that while most of theseagencies were acknowledged highly for Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries andPhotocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis there are also differences across topic clusters. We see, forexample, that the while European and US agencies were very prominent in Magnetoplasma | Plasmas |Tokamak Devices, Chinese agencies were not as present, despite the activity of output. On the contrary, we
see that Asian funders are more visible for Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting
Diodes (OLED) as opposed to other agencies.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

30Section 1 | Who funds NØEnergy research?

Figure 10
Selected funded output share by topic cluster and funder for 2016---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

31

1.3

What are the national trends inNØEnergy research?

China leads the way with the largest number of publications inNØEnergy research, followed by the United States, but Saudi Arabia,
India and Russia have shown the largest growth since 2011.
From a national perspective, China has a clear lead in NØEnergy publications, producing nearly 400,000
publications between 2001 and 2020, followed by the United States with 280,000. India, Germany andJapan complete the top five countries in terms of output. All the countries and regions that contributed toat least 1% of NØEnergy publications between 2001 and 2020 are shown in Figure 11.
Overall, 24 countries and regions contributed to at least 1% of the total global output in NØEnergy. This
group of countries and regions is very similar to those that contributed to at least 1% of the total global
output. The exceptions are Malaysia, Denmark and Singapore, each of which contributed to less than 1% of
the total global output but more in NØEnergy. Malaysia contributed to only 0.7% of all publications during
2001---2020, but to 1.4% of NØEnergy publications over the same period. Similarly, while Singapore
contributed to 0.6% of total global output, it contributed to 1% of NØEnergy publications. Other countries
and regions not shown in the chart that published more than 5,000 NØEnergy publications andcontributed to a higher proportion of publications in this area than overall include Hong Kong, Portugal,
Saudi Arabia, Norway, Finland, Greece, Indonesia, Egypt, Thailand, Pakistan, Romania, Algeria, Morocco,
Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

“To address climate change we need everyone involved, and one of the biggest
issues that we face consistently is ensuring that all countries have the capacity
they need to make progress: where is the research being produced, who’s
producing the research?”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability, University of
Maryland at College Park

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

32Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 11NØEnergy and overall global output by countries and regions that contributed to at least 1% of NØEnergy
publications, 2001---2020. The number next to the country and region code indicates the ratio of NØEnergy share
divided by overall share, where 1.0 indicates a higher share than the global average.
Source: Scopus

In the previous section, we showed that the number of publications acknowledging a Chinese funding
agency has grown steadily, while the those citing a US agency have remained stable or declined. Thisobservation is in line with the general trends in national NØEnergy output. China’s NØEnergy output
overtook that of the United States in 2012 (Figure 12) and has shown exponential growth. In contrast,
output from the United States shows a more modest increase. China’s strong growth in NØEnergy echoes

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

33Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

overall research trends across all subjects, but it is worth noting that while China’s total output overtookthat of the United States in 2020 17 (Figure 13), this happened much earlier in NØEnergy.
During this period, India emerged ahead of other countries and regions, surpassing Germany in 2015 andachieving the third largest annual output by 2020. India has followed a similar trajectory to China: while its
overall research output was the fourth largest as of 2019, its output in NØEnergy was the third largest as of2015, four years earlier.

Figure 12
Scholarly output trends for countries and regions contributing to at least 1% of output in NØEnergy, 2011---2020.
Countries and regions indicated with a colored line demonstrate a compound annual growth rate of over 10%, except
Taiwan, which shows a negative growth rate. Y-axis is a logarithmic scale starting at 10 publications.
Source: Scopus

17 Based on Scopus data.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

34Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 13
Overall scholarly output for countries and regions that contributed to at least 1% of overall output, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Among those countries and regions contributing to at least 1% of the total global output in NØEnergy,
Saudi Arabia (CAGR of 28.6%), India (20.7%) and Russia (18.8%) showed the highest growth during 2011--2020 (Figure 14). In addition, of those countries and regions that published a minimum of 10,000
publications between 2011 and 2020, Indonesia (36.2%), Egypt (28.6%), Iran (15.9%) and Hong Kong (15.1%)
also demonstrated very high growth rates. Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam are also worth noting
for growth rates of over 20% and outputs that rose from a few hundred publications in 2001---2010 to a few
thousand in 2011---2020.

“At present, many countries have committed to carbon neutrality plans, but thetime frames for each country to reach carbon neutrality will differ. Therefore, thetime costs and implementation effects of R&I for new technologies are theimportant factors for a country or region to consider in choosing this clean
technology.”
Yutao Wang, Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

35Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 14
Compound annual growth rate in NØEnergy publications for countries and regions reporting at least 10,000
publications in 2011---2020. Countries and regions marked in light green had a higher growth rate over the latter period(2011---2020).
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

36Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Specialization and scholarly impact of NØEnergy
Do countries and regions that are more specialized in NØEnergy also
have higher scholarly impact in the field? Our analysis aims to capture
scholarly impact through the FWCI (see the definition of this indicatorin Section 1.1).
The level of specialization of a country or region in a certain area isindicated by the relative activity index (RAI). In this case, relative activity
is calculated by comparing a country’s or region’s share of publicationsin NØEnergy with the global share of NØEnergy publications, which
was over 4% for the period 2011---2020.
Figure 15 maps FWCI versus RAI for those countries and regions that
contributed to least 1% of NØEnergy publications during 2011---2020.

Relative activity index
The relative activity index (RAI) is definedas the share of a country’s or region’s
article output in a topic cluster relative
to the global share of articles in thesame topic cluster. A value of 1.0
indicates that a country’s or region’s
research activity in a field corresponds
exactly with the global activity in that

Singapore, Denmark and Saudi Arabia show the highest levels of bothfield; a value higher than 1.0 implies a
specialization and scholarly impact, despite producing a relatively lower
greater emphasis; and a value lower
number of publications in the field. Switzerland, Australia, the United
than 1.0 suggests a lesser focus.
States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada, meanwhile,display high scholarly impact despite having less specialization inNØEnergy. Asian countries and regions such as China, South Korea, India, Malaysia and Taiwan tend to be
more specialized in general compared with their European and North American counterparts, but theirscholarly impact is more limited. The relatively higher specialization of Asian countries and regions inNØEnergy may be driven by their focus in relevant areas such as materials science.
Of the remaining 71 countries and regions that published more than 1,000 NØEnergy publications but aresmaller players in the field, 15 have a higher FWCI than the global average. Qatar leads this group with an
FWCI of 2.1, arising from its publications in computing-related topic clusters such as Wireless Sensor
Networks | Routing Protocols | Sensor Nodes, Distributed Computer Systems | Cloud Computing | Clouds
and Authentication | Cryptography | Data Privacy.

Countries will tend to specialize in areas that are important to them, or where
they already have the basis for expertise—for example, if they’ve got a university
or research institution that has strengths and history in a particular area. This
does underscore the need for international collaboration though, because
otherwise gaps might not be addressed. It’s not enough that each country willbring to the table what it’s quite good at, or experienced in, or willing to fund. We
have to take a broader view and see where the gaps are and how they can be
filled.
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair, Climate Group

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

37Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 15
Average field-weighted citation impact versus relative activity index per country or region, for those contributing to atleast 1% of all NØEnergy publications, 2011---2020. Bubble size indicates the NØEnergy output of the country or region.
Source: Scopus

Figure 16 shows the RAI for countries and regions that contributed to at least 1% of all NØEnergy
publications between 2011 and 2020 over two time periods: 2001---2010 and 2011---2020. China maintainedand even slightly increased its level of specialization during these periods, while also increasing its output.
India, Singapore and Saudi Arabia increased their specialization notably from the first period to the second,
whereas South Korea, Japan and Taiwan saw their level of specialization decline. Among other countries
and regions not shown in the chart but that produced more than 1,000 publications, Algeria, Morocco,
Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam also increased their degree of
specialization considerably compared with the global average.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

38Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 16
Relative activity index of countries and regions contributing to at least 1% of all NØEnergy publications, 2011---2020.
Countries and regions are ranked by their output from left to right on the horizontal axis.
Source: Scopus

Different countries and regions, of course, tend to have different specializations for numerous reasons. As
it is not possible to display the specializations of all countries and regions in this report, we focus on thethree with the largest number of NØEnergy publications during 2011---2020 and the 20 most highly
represented topic clusters. China, which produced the most NØEnergy publications, is most strongly
represented in Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries and is three times more specialized
in this area than the global average (Figure 17). In fact, in most of the topic clusters in which China isrepresented over this period, it had a higher degree of specialization than the global average, with thenotable exception of Engine Cylinders | Biodiesel | Diesel Engines.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

39Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 17
Top 20 topic clusters by output for China, 2011---2020. The relative activity index is indicated within the boxes.
Source: Scopus

Compared with China, the United States-----which accounts for the second largest number of publications inNØEnergy-----is relatively less specialized in most of the topic clusters in which it is most highly represented,
with the exception of Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices (Figure 18).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

40Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 18
Top 20 topic clusters by output for the United States, 2011---2020. The relative activity index is indicated within theboxes.
Source: Scopus

India, which produced the third largest number of publications over this period, is most highly represented
in the Electric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters topic cluster, in which it is also highly
specialized. The country’s other areas of specialization include Engine Cylinders | Biodiesel | Diesel Engines
and Wireless Sensor Networks | Routing Protocols | Sensor Nodes (Figure 19).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

41Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 19
Top 20 topic clusters by output for India, 2011---2020. The relative activity index is indicated within the boxes.
Source: Scopus

Table 1 presents country/region---topic cluster pairs in terms of the highest FWCI for those that contributed
to at least 1% of the total NØEnergy output for the period 2011---2020, because displaying the scholarly
impact per topic cluster and FWCI is not possible.
Singapore and Switzerland show the highest FWCI values in several categories. Russia also achieved a very
high overall FWCI value, primarily arising from 14 publications with exceptional scores of over 100 focusedon the use of methanol in diesel engines. However, it should be noted that most of the citations appearedin other Russian publications, indicating a limited international reach.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

42Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

World
FWCI

Top countries/regions
by FWCI

FWCI of the top
countries/regions

Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries

2.4

SGP

4.2

Photocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis

2.3

CHE

6.1

MIMO Systems | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing | Cognitive Radio

1.9

SGP

6.3

Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED)

1.8

DNK

3.7

Wireless Sensor Networks | Routing Protocols | Sensor Nodes

1.5

SGP

3.9

Engine Cylinders | Biodiesel | Diesel Engines

1.5

RUS

15.2

Pyrolysis | Coal | Gasification

1.5

SGP

2.9

Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution

1.5

SGP, DNK

2.5

Nanocrystals | Semiconductor Quantum Dots | Zinc Sulfide

1.4

CAN

3.4

Electric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters

1.4

DNK

3

Hydrogenation | Catalysts | Zeolites

1.4

SGP

2.6

Energy | Economics | Electricity

1.4

TUR

2.4

Microbial Fuel Cells | Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors

1.3

SAU

2.2

Electrocatalysts | Electrolytic Reduction | Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells(PEMFC)

1.3

SGP, CHE

1.9

Yttria Stabilized Zirconia | Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) | Perovskite

1.2

SAU, AUS

2

Heat Pump Systems | Rankine Cycle | Exergy

1.2

IRN

2.2

Ventilation | Buildings | Air Conditioning

1.2

SGP, CHE

2.1

Solar Energy | Solar Radiation | Photovoltaic Cells

1.1

AUS

2

Wind Power | Asynchronous Generators | Wind Turbines

1.1

NLD

2

Permanent Magnets | Synchronous Motors | Induction Motors

1.1

ITA

2.2

Silicon | Solar Cells | Silicon Solar Cells

1

NLD

2

Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices

1

MYS

2.7

Topic cluster

Table 1Top countries/regions by field-weighted citation impact among those countries/regions and topic clusters that
contributed to at least 1% of the total NØEnergy output, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

43Section 1 | What are the national trends in NØEnergy research?

It is worth highlighting some other country/region---topic cluster pairs that had an average FWCI value of
2.0 or more. The United Kingdom, for example, had the highest impact in Organometallics | Ligands |Crystal Structure during 2011---2020, with an average FWCI value of 3.7, compared with the global averageof 2.6. The United States and Germany also achieved FWCI values over 3.0, with China, Japan and France
demonstrating scholarly impact above the global average in this topic cluster.
The United States had the highest scholarly impact in the topic cluster Models | Algorithms | Computer
Vision over the same period, with an average FWCI value of 4.3, well above the global average value of 2.4.
South Korea, the United Kingdom and Italy also ranked above the global average in this area.
The Ruthenium | Ligands | Catalysts topic cluster, which is associated with sustainable hydrogenproduction, was dominated by Canada with an average FWCI value of 4.5, well above the global average of
2.3. The Netherlands, the United States, France, Switzerland and China also demonstrated FWCI values
above the global average in this field.
Saudi Arabia led the Authentication | Cryptography | Data Privacy topic cluster, with an average FWCI valueof 3.2. The United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and South Korea
also displayed FWCI values above the global average of 2.1.
France, with an FWCI value of 4.2, led Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom, all of which had
higher FWCI values than the global average (of 2.0), in the topic cluster Internet | Technology | Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID).
In the topic cluster Intrusion Detection | Computer Crime | Network Security, where the global average was
2.0, the United Kingdom had the highest FWCI value of 3.4, followed by the United States and India.
Finally, many countries and regions achieved higher than the global average FWCI values (2.0) in the topic
cluster Distributed Computer Systems | Cloud Computing | Clouds. Hong Kong took the top spot with anaverage FWCI value of 7.1, followed by Australia, Canada, Finland, Singapore, the United States, the United
Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, France, Spain, Switzerland and Greece.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

44

1.4

How interdisciplinary isNØEnergy research?

Achieving net zero will require the concerted efforts of many different
scientific areas. But NØEnergy research tends to be focused on a few
disciplines, which could limit its ability to produce the societal
outcomes needed to combat climate change.
A key tenet of current research strategy is that approaches integrating ideas, practices and people fromdifferent disciplines are more likely than a monodisciplinary focus to lead to durable change in social,economic and policy practice. This is particularly the case for grand challenges such as climate change,
where NØEnergy research must, to fulfill its innovation and development promise, tap into a broad rangeof diverse disciplines. 18
Here we present an overview of cross-disciplinary practices and achievements in NØEnergy research ingeneral and in specific topic clusters within the field. When we talk about the disciplinary diversity of
research, we mean the diversity of influences on research rather than the discipline in which the researchitself is categorized (see text box next page). The disciplinary nature of research can take many forms, but inthis section we focus on two: conceptual diversity and collaborative diversity. 19
Two key findings about the disciplinary makeup of NØEnergy research emerge from our analysis:•

The largest topic clusters in this field tend to be comparatively monodisciplinary or record an averagelevel of disciplinary diversity, whereas smaller topic clusters in areas such as biofuels, carbon capture orenergy economics are more diverse.

•

Research related to Climate Action (SDG 13) is highly diverse, both conceptually and in terms of teamcomposition, but makes up only a small proportion of the total number of NØEnergy publications.
Research on Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), by contrast, produces many more publications, butthese are much more uniform in their disciplinarity.

18 Schneider, F., Buser, T., Keller, R., Tribaldos, T., & Rist, S. (2019). Research funding programmes aiming for societal transformations: Ten key stages. Scienceand Public Policy, 46(3), 463---478. doi:10.1093/scipol/scy074; Van der Hel, S. (2016). New science for global sustainability? The institutionalisation ofknowledge co-production in Future Earth. Environmental Science and Policy, 61, 165---175. doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.03.012; Belmont Forum. (2016). The
Belmont Challenge: a global, environmental research mission for sustainability [White paper]. https://www.belmontforum.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/04/belmont-challenge-white-paper.pdf
19 Pinheiro, H., Vignola-Gagné, E., & Campbell, D. (2021). A large-scale validation of the relationship between cross-disciplinary research and its uptake inpolicy-related documents, using the novel Overton altmetrics database. Quantitative Science Studies, 1---40. doi:10.1162/qss_a_00137

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

45Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

In general, NØEnergy research displays average levels of
collaborative and conceptual diversity, with scores for 2011--2020 of 1.02 and 0.99 respectively, against a benchmark of
1.00 (data not shown). In the same period, the field also had
an average level of publications with exceptionally highcollaborative diversity (9.5%), which is close to the benchmark
level of 10%, but the level of publications with exceptionallyhigh conceptual diversity was below average (7.1%) (data notshown).
On balance, the field appears to be average or slightly more
uniform in its disciplinary makeup compared with other areasof research. The field records many average scores in diversity
measures, a performance that is arguably below expectations,
given the push for cross-disciplinarity research to tackle thegrand challenges presented by climate change and theachievement of net zero.
As Figure 20 shows, the SDG 7 component of NØEnergy
publications underpins the disciplinary uniformity of the field.
NØEnergy publications related to SDG 13, by contrast, record
higher scores for both disciplinary indicators, but because
these publications make up only 3.5% of the total number inNØEnergy, their influence is limited.

Conceptual diversity and collaborative diversity

Conceptual diversity or interdisciplinarity
This indicator relates to the diversity of thedisciplines associated with the prior findings onwhich the research is based and that are cited
within the publication (i.e., the thematic
subfields associated with the references). Theinterdisciplinarity indicator captures theconceptual underpinnings of research. In thisreport, we also refer to this as ‘‘conceptual
diversity’’.

Collaborative diversity or multidisciplinarity
This indicator relates to the diversity arising fromcollaboration between co-authors from different
disciplines contributing to a research publication(i.e., the topics associated with the priorpublications of the authors).
This multidisciplinarity indicator captures thecollaborative underpinning and teamcomposition of research. In this report, we also
refer to this as ‘‘collaborative diversity’’.
Scores for these indicators are 1.00 at the global
level (for a given subfield): a field will score above
1.00 if it is more diverse than the global averageand less than 1.00 if it is below the global
average.
It is also possible to measure the percentage
share of a publication set that achieves
exceptionally high levels of either
interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity. In thisreport, we discuss publications that are within
the top 10% most interdisciplinary or
multidisciplinary within their field. For these
indicators, a score of more than 10% is above
average and a score of less than 10% is below.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research46Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Figure 20
Trends in the disciplinarity diversity of NØEnergy publications, shown in relation to the data sets for Affordable andClean Energy (SDG 7) and Climate Action (SDG 13), 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

47Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

“Research on complex, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary issues central toachieving the SDGs increasingly utilizes large data sets to accelerate thegeneration of knowledge. Understanding the implications of synergies and tradeoffs among the goals would require continued monitoring and research todevelop better data-driven tools and services for policymakers, institutional
leaders and the research community.”Franklin Carrero-Martínez, Senior Director, Global Sustainability and Development & Science andTechnology for Sustainability, National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

The degree of conceptual diversity (or interdisciplinarity) of the field is even more apparent in the chord
diagrams presented in Figure 21 and Figure 22. These diagrams visually represent the strength ofconnections between different disciplines within a given topic. Stronger connections are represented bythicker lines, with blue/violet-colored links connecting intellectually distant disciplines and pink/orangecolored links between more similar subfields.
The first figure shows the strength of interdisciplinary connections within the Lithium Alloys | Secondary
Batteries | Electric Batteries topic cluster, relative to average levels. In the chord diagram, interdisciplinaryconnections are quite sparse, but some very diverse subfields are connected. Connections between
intellectually close subfields (such as Energy, Engineering, Physics and Chemistry) are more frequent andsustained. Most notably, this topic cluster has a strong connection between the Energy and Nanoscience &Nanotechnology subfields.
By contrast, the chord diagram for one the most interdisciplinary topic clusters in NØEnergy, Energy |Economics | Electricity (Figure 22), shows multiple connections between diverse subfields and theseinterdisciplinary connections are much stronger. The strongest links are between the fields of Energy andEconomics, followed by Energy and Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences. The diagram also reveals weaker
but still diverse connections between Energy and Ecology, Energy and Business & Management, andEconomics and Environmental Sciences. The strongest connection is between Energy and Environmental
Sciences, although these subfields are more conceptually proximate.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research48Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Figure 21
Mapping of interdisciplinary connections within NØEnergy research in the topic cluster Lithium Alloys | Secondary
Batteries | Electric Batteries, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research49Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Figure 22
Mapping of interdisciplinary connections within NØEnergy research in the topic cluster Energy | Economics |Electricity, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

50Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

“We have to focus on humans because the big beneficiaries of the transition are
definitely going to be humans! Figure 22 in the report shows that there isn’t avery good connection between research in the core sciences and research in thehumanities, in the arts and all those particular areas. That’s already exposing a
potential failure of the current trend, and if we continue with this current
research trend, we’re definitely going to have failure. There would be a lot of
opposition to the outcomes because you won’t have a lot of buy-in … Our
research must be human-centered.”
Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy Justice and Transitions, University of Sussex

Some topic clusters and areas of research appear to either drive or limit the expansion of disciplinary
diversity in NØEnergy research. Figure 23 shows the 10 largest topic clusters in NØEnergy by publication
volume (each contains between 25,000 and 105,000 articles). These topic clusters reveal an interesting
variety of profiles in disciplinary diversity, with the larger clusters tending to show average levels of
disciplinarity diversity. Some clusters even tend toward disciplinary uniformity.
Three topic clusters-----Energy | Economics | Electricity, Wind Power | Asynchronous Generators | Wind
Turbines and Photocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis-----contain publications that display, on average,
high or very high levels of both conceptual and collaborative diversity. Of these, Energy | Economics |Electricity is, by far, the most multidisciplinary topic analyzed here.
Our findings also illustrate how collaborative and conceptual diversity can be independent. For example,
Solar Energy | Solar Radiation | Photovoltaic Cells displays a high degree of collaborative diversity but a low
level of conceptual diversity. In other words, although the research teams may be diverse, the supporting
literature cited in publications underpinning their strategy and methodology is likely to be more uniform,
originating from just a few subfields.
The allied topic cluster of Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs),
however, is slightly above average in conceptual diversity or interdisciplinarity, with expected levels of
collaborative diversity in team composition.

Electrocatalysts | Electrolytic Reduction | Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) and Wind Power| Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution are both average with respect tocollaborative diversity but below average in conceptual diversity.

The remaining three topic clusters, Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries, Electric
Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters and Wireless Sensor Networks | Routing Protocols |Nodes, demonstrate average levels of both conceptual and collaborative diversity.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

51Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Figure 23
Conceptual and collaborative diversity in the 10 largest NØEnergy topic clusters, 2011---2020. Bubble size represents
volume of publications in the topic cluster.
Source: Scopus

Our analysis of the most collaboratively diverse topic clusters (Figure 24) 20 highlights the NØEnergy
research areas associated with clean energies, carbon capture or topics that intersect with otherenvironmental concerns.
The most interdisciplinary topic cluster, Energy | Economics | Electricity (as shown in Figure 23), reappears
in the ranking of the top 10 most multidisciplinary (or collaboratively diverse) topics but is now the least
diverse of those we analyzed. Smaller topic clusters tend to demonstrate higher levels of multidisciplinarity.
For example, the topic cluster Air Pollution | Particulate Matter | Air Pollutants, which focuses on the
mitigation of air quality and health issues related to the use of biomass-based stoves in homes, achieved
the highest score (of 1.63) for only 1,750 publications.
There are three topic clusters within the top 10 most multidisciplinary (or collaboratively diverse) shown in
Figure 24 that are broadly associated with biofuels: Microalgae | Biodiesel | Algae, Bioenergy | Biomass |20 Operationalized as top scores on multidisciplinarity, for topics with at least 1,500 publications between 2011 and 2020.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

52Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Biofuels and Soil | Biochar | Soil Organic Carbon. In the field of carbon storage research, Carbon capture |Storage materials | Shale demonstrates relatively high multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity measuresof 1.37 and 1.18, respectively, for over 6,000 publications.

Figure 24
Conceptual and collaborative diversity in NØEnergy topic clusters with the highest collaborative diversity, 2011---2020.
Bubble size represents volume of publications in the topic cluster.
Source: Scopus

The topic clusters that score most highly for conceptual diversity 21 in NØEnergy are those associated withthe development and design of consumer products, such as electric vehicles, and the challenges inherent
in their use and deployment, including data privacy issues, for example (Figure 25). These interdisciplinary
topics include Models | Applications | Ubiquitous Computing, Authentication | Cryptography | Data Privacy
and Intelligent Buildings | Internet | Bluetooth. Other highly interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary areas
include the largest topic cluster examined here, Fuel Economy | Hybrid Vehicles | Electric Vehicles, which
has close to 10,000 publications and a score of 1.17 for multidisciplinarity, and Steering / Vehicles / Tires,
which performs highly on conceptual diversity (1.28 for conceptual diversity, 1.21 for collaborative diversity).

21 Operationalized as top scores on interdisciplinarity, for topics with at least 1,500 publications between 2011 and 2020.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

53Section 1 | How interdisciplinary is NØEnergy research?

Figure 25
Conceptual and collaborative diversity in NØEnergy topic clusters with the highest conceptual diversity, 2011---2020.
Bubble size represents volume of publications in the topic cluster.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

54

1.5

How internationally collaborativeis NØEnergy research?

International collaboration in NØEnergy research has increased overthe last decade. Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland and Canada
demonstrate the highest levels of international collaboration.
Collaboration between research organizations and institutions both nationally and internationally isparticularly essential in tackling wide-reaching societal challenges such as climate change. The IEA’s Net
Zero by 2050 report highlights the need for greater international collaboration among countries, ‘‘to ensurethat developing economies have the financing and technologies they need to reach net zero in time.’’ 22International collaboration also tends to produce higher-impact research. In this section and the next, we
focus on international collaboration in general, as well as that between the Global North and South.
Our analysis indicates that the share of NØEnergy publications demonstrating international collaboration
has increased, going from 31% in 2011 to 45% in 2020 and accelerating over the last decade (Figure 26).

Types of collaboration
Research collaboration is measured by counting publications resulting from the efforts of two or moreauthors. Such publications are referred to as co-publications throughout the report. Collaboration can be
categorized into various types; in this report, we focus on the following three:•International collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of apublication include institutions from two or more countries or regions•

South international collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of aninternational co-publication include at least one author from a Global South
country; this category includes both North---South and South---South co-publications•

Academic---corporate collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of apublication include institutions or organizations from both academia and thecorporate sector; this is a type of intersectoral collaboration

22 See https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

55Section 1 | How internationally collaborative is NØEnergy research?

Figure 26
Share of NØEnergy publications with international collaboration (weighted calculation), 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

What is the benchmark for international collaboration in research?
The global average share of research publications with international collaboration currently stands at 23%.
In other words, one paper out of four includes researchers from at least two different countries. But sincemost international collaborations involve multiple countries, the global international collaboration share, if
computed in the same way for countries, can be misleading. This is because a single paper published by aninternational partnership will count only once at the global level but multiple times at the country level,
once for each country involved. This means almost all countries achieve a share far above the average global
level. To counteract this effect, we have computed the global level as a weighted average of the scores of all
countries, which results in a score close to 40%, which is much more representative of the situation at thelevel of countries.

At over 75%, Saudi Arabia shows the highest share of publications with international collaboration among
those countries and regions that contributed to at least 1% of all NØEnergy publications during 2011---2020(Figure 27). Singapore, Switzerland and Canada follow with shares of 66%, 63% and 62%, respectively.
These four countries not only had the highest shares of publications demonstrating international
collaboration but also increased their shares from 2001---2010 to 2011---2020. Among the five countries withthe most publications, the United Kingdom also increased its share of publications with international
collaboration by more than 10%.
Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

56Section 1 | How internationally collaborative is NØEnergy research?

India, Russia and Poland, on the other hand, show declining shares of publications with international
collaboration. Russia’s share of international collaboration publications fell from 37% in 2011 to 28% in
2020. India had a larger share of publications with international collaboration than the global average in
2001---2010, but its share dropped below the global average over the last decade.
The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Iran and Turkey all show demonstrably higher
levels of international collaboration in NØEnergy than overall. In contrast, Germany, Italy, Taiwan,
Switzerland and Denmark have lower levels of international collaboration in NØEnergy compared with
their overall share.

Figure 27
Share of NØEnergy publications with international collaboration for those countries and regions that contributed to atleast 1% of NØEnergy publications in 2011---2020. The light green line indicates the global average share of publications
with international collaboration for NØEnergy during 2001---2010, and the dark green line indicates the average for2011---2020. The gray bar indicates the overall international collaboration share of that country or region in 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Figure 28 shows the share of publications demonstrating international collaboration for topic clusters that
accounted for at least 1% of all NØEnergy publications in 2011---2020. The topic cluster Magnetoplasma |Plasmas | Tokamak Devices had the highest share of publications with international collaboration, as
research in this area is generally focused on larger infrastructure projects that require investment andparticipation from multiple countries. The share of publications with international collaboration increased

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

57Section 1 | How internationally collaborative is NØEnergy research?

for all the topic clusters investigated except for Permanent Magnets | Synchronous Motors | Induction
Motors, which saw a small decline. The topic cluster Energy | Economics | Electricity shows the largest

increase in international collaboration, rising from 8% of publications in 2001---2010 to 23% in 2011---2020.
An increase in international collaboration of over 10% is also seen in the topic clusters Pyrolysis | Coal |Gasification, Microbial Fuel Cells | Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors, Yttria Stabilized Zirconia | Solid Oxide
Fuel Cells (SOFC) | Perovskite and MIMO Systems | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing |Cognitive Radio.

Figure 28
Share of publications with international collaboration for topic clusters accounting for at least 1% of all NØEnergy
publications during 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

58

1.6

How does the Global Southparticipate in NØEnergy
research?*

Only a small proportion of NØEnergy research is conducted by or in
the Global South, which could make practical implementation
problematic in the future.
The IEA’s Net Zero by 2050 report highlights the need for
greater international collaboration among countries, 23 and in
the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations called for countries to‘‘[p]romote the development, transfer, dissemination anddiffusion of environmentally sound technologies todeveloping countries on favourable terms’’. 24 Moreover, thelaunch of initiatives such as the Least Developed Countries
2050 Vision for a Climate-Resilient Future highlights a
global will to develop local capacities through research and,notably, international collaborations. 25 The concept ofcapacity-building, 26 where a country develops its local skills,
abilities, processes, organizations, communities andresources to adapt and thrive, is particularly key in energy
systems. Research and innovation are essential to capacitybuilding, which can be needed in niche areas necessary tosupport energy infrastructure development such as cybersecurity or IT networks.
The need to support cooperation between the Global Southand Global North (defined below) also ties into somecommentators’ concept of a ‘‘just transition to net zero’’ and“Researchers are more willing tofollow hot issues and hot areas
because of easier access to data,
more financial support, greater easein collaborating and easier fieldsurveys. This [work on the Global
South] reminds us that we need togive more visibility to research on‘South international publications’and ‘South focus’ topics and call on
all researchers to pay more attention
to the Global South’s research.”
Yutao Wang, Professor, Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering,
Fudan University

23 See https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

24 UN General Assembly. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1 .

25 Least Developed Countries Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR). (2019). LDC 2050 Vision: towards a climate-resilient future.

http://www.ldc-climate.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LDC-Group-Vision.pdf

26 See https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/capacity-building*This chapter was amended on 8 November 2022 with an updated definition of the Global South country group.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

59Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

recognizes that a major portion of global investment earmarked
for achieving net zero should target middle- and low-income
countries. 27
In this section, we focus on the participation of Global South
countries in NØEnergy research and explore whether
collaboration with developing countries is underway and inwhich areas.
It is important to note that there are no internationally accepted
metrics for the levels of scientific infrastructure development,
nor are policy targets or roadmaps of desirable research
performances for Global South countries available. This section
is in no way able to assess performances of Global South
countries, which face a unique set of challenges in building upNØEnergy research systems. Nevertheless, some basic
measurements of participation levels of Global South countriesin NØEnergy research are useful, if only to guide evidencebased policies. Here we endeavor, in addition to providing
basic measurements, to assess how countries within the Global
North fare in relation to one another in supporting North--South collaboration and other forms of international
development through research and innovation. Global North--South collaboration, in turn, should also be deployed as
steppingstones toward reinforced local capacity and increased
South---South collaboration.
Collectively, Global South countries contributed to 21% ofNØEnergy publications from 2001 to 2020. This is just below
the share of publications of the 27 Member States of theEuropean Union (EU-27) (23%) and China (24%). If countries are
considered by their relative level of economic development (orincome level), Low-Income Countries (LICs) contributed to only
0.2% of NØEnergy publications and Lower-Middle-Income
Countries (LMICS) only 10%. The latter decade of the study saw
a slight shift in these shares, but only for some entities. Global
South countries increased their share to 24% for 2011---2020,
whereas the US share dropped to 16%. China increased its
share to 27%, and the LMIC share increased to 12% (Figure 29).
In all periods, Global South countries are clearly overshadowedby the Global North in terms of the volume of publications
produced, as evident in Figure 29.

Defining the Global SouthThe Global South refers to three groups ofcountries, in line with World Bank definitions:•Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs)•

Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)•

Low-Income Countries (LICs)

In this report, the Global South excludes
China, which is normally considered a UMIC
country. This is because although China is arecipient of some development aid, it is also ascientific powerhouse. China collaborates
routinely because of its high academic statusrather than as a result of developmentoriented scientific collaboration.
Global North countries are divided into four
categories:
•

China

•

EU-27 countries (including Bulgaria)•

The United States•

High-Income Countries (HICs), including
Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi
Arabia, South Korea, Switzerland and theUnited Kingdom.

For further details on the World Bank
classification, see
https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledge
base/articles/906519

Although the share of NØEnergy publications with at least one researcher from the Global South doubled
in the 2001---2020 period, ultimately researchers from Global South countries accounted for only a fifth of
all authors (Figure 30). Furthermore, North---South and South---South collaborations drive collaborative

27 Robins, N. (2021, June 9). No one should get left behind. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/no-one-should-get-left-behind/

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

60Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

diversity and South-focused applied research, but only a verysmall proportion of research in the period included a fieldwork
component in Global South locations, limiting opportunities
for related development work (Figure 31).
Overall, while the trends are encouraging, our findings
emphasize the need for greater inclusion of the Global South inNØEnergy research. Increasing the frequency of North---Southand South---South collaborations should be a priority for futureNØEnergy research policies. Moreover, our analysis of public--private collaborations and levels of multidisciplinarity indicate
clear priorities for improvement. While some areas withinNØEnergy research have a strong South focus, these tend toshow lower impact in citations (citation impact data not shown).
Research leaders and science policymakers might want toconsider taking a more active stance in supporting andpromoting these areas of research. The current trajectory ofNØEnergy research is positive, but it may be too modest toaddress the major development challenges ahead, particularly
for the Global South.

Measuring the contribution of the Global
South
Some indicators computed for this report focus
on the intensity of Global South participationin NØEnergy research. This includes shares ofpublications with at least one author from the
Global South.
‘‘South international co-publications’’ include
at least one author from a Global South
country. This category therefore includes both
North---South and South---South copublications.
‘‘South focus’’ refers to publications withmentions of Global South locations (cities,
countries or regions) in titles, abstracts or
keywords, which are likely to be associated withfieldwork, local prototyping, or research
associated with regional issues.

“The global commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 is growing, acrossgovernments, businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society. However,
COVID-19 is forcing many governments and businesses in the African region to
focus on immediate survival. In addition, with limited resource and budget
allocations, the majority of African countries are focused on improving
productivity and accelerating economic growth, further delaying the net zerotransition.”
Kariuki Ngari, Managing Director & CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

61Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

Figure 29
Overview of Global South (dark green) contributions to NØEnergy publications relative to Global North countries andother country groups (light green), for 2011---2020. FWCI: Field-weighted citation impact. Bubble size represents output
volume.
Source: Scopus

Looking at Figure 29 in more detail, we see that Global South-based research tends to be taken up less bycolleagues in other scientific communities, as shown by FWCI scores below the NØEnergy research average
for all three income subgroups (scores of between 1.1 and 1.3). In contrast, the four Global North countries
or country groups had FWCI scores of between 1.5 and 2.0.
A significant proportion of NØEnergy research from the Global South is shaped by collaborations withresearchers from other countries, as shown by the scores of almost 80% for LICs (or 57% when taking into
consideration only North---South co-publications, data not shown). This observation does not hold for
UMICs and LMICs, however. A possible explanation could be that the capacity for national funding
programs in NØEnergy research might be limited for LICs, forcing reliance on international collaboration
to develop local knowledge.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

62Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

Since 2001, the inclusion of and contributions from Global South countries have increased, but they stillaccount for only a small proportion of the entire field. The percentage share of NØEnergy research with
contributions from Global South countries, however, increased from just 13% to 31% during this period(Figure 30). The percentage share of international co-publications with at least one Global South-based
collaborator also increased, from 4% to 11% (as a proportion of overall NØEnergy publications). Meanwhile,
the proportion of NØEnergy publications including South fieldwork or applied to Global South regions
increased from 4% to 6%. Overall, these findings show a clear upward trend in the inclusion of Global
South-based researchers or interests in NØEnergy research.

Figure 30
Overview of Global South trends, 2001---2020. South researcher indicates the share of publications with at least one
Global South researcher (upper panel), South international collaboration indicates the share of international copublications with at least one Global South co-author (middle panel), and South focus indicates mentions of Global
South locations (lower panel). Global average not available for South focus, last indicator. SDGs 1 to 16 data points
capture global averages within all publications thematically related to SDGs 1 to 16.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

63Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

The number of NØEnergy publications or international co-publications with at least one Global Southauthor was not meaningfully greater than that of other SDG-oriented publications or average global
publications, across the period, however. In terms of South focus, NØEnergy publications recorded scoresthat were about half the level of SDG-oriented publications overall in recent years (a global average is notavailable on this indicator).
North---South collaborations are often perceived as the best way of tackling science-related development
challenges. If this is so, these collaborations can be expected to share other features commonly associatedwith successful development approaches: high levels of collaborative diversity (multidisciplinarity), highlevels of local fieldwork and regional focus, and large numbers of publications from public---private
partnerships. The next two figures assess these expectations for NØEnergy research by considering
publications from North---South and South---South collaborations between LICs, LMICs, Upper-MiddleIncome Countries (UMICs), and China, EU-27 countries or the United States.
Figure 31 reveals that all North---South and South---South co-publications had high or very high levels ofmultidisciplinarity (scores range from 1.2 to 1.9). Regional engagement was also high or very high in almost
all collaborations (scores range from 11% to 63%, except for China+UMIC, which was only 6%).

“In the past, most climate change-related work done in the Global South wasaround climate adaptation. They had only a small voice when it came tomitigation and, consequently, to global climate negotiations. This was partially
due to a lack of research being done in those regions. Global climate change
mitigation is very much in the hands of the Global South countries, however.
Apart from the major emitters such as China and India, other developing
countries in South Asia and Africa have grown their economies and emissions
dramatically over the past 10 years. It’s vital for them to find a way to leapfrog
to a transition to clean energy. Research on data and methods are the key
elements before any application studies.”
Dabo Guan, Distinguished Professor of Climate Change Economics, Tsinghua University; Chair at the
Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

64Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

Figure 31
Collaborative diversity and percentage share of NØEnergy publications with a Global South study location, 2011---2020.
Bubble size represents output volume of the collaboration type.
Source: Scopus

Four of the strongest performers, on the basis of multidisciplinarity and regional engagement, included
researchers from LICs as partners, as well as those from either EU-27 countries, LMICs, UMICS or theUnited States. However, these collaborations represent only very low volumes of publications-----around 250,
for example, from the top performing category of US---LIC co-publications.
Figure 32 aims to capture whether North---South collaborations also contained academic---private
collaborations and collaborations across highly diverse disciplines. Most North---South collaborations
performed below the NØEnergy average (close to 5%) for academic---private partnerships (scores range
from 1.9% to 9.2%, with 9 out of 12 collaboration types below average). US research is often characterizedby high levels of academic---private partnership, and this was indeed the case for US+UMIC and US+LMIC
publications (scores of 9.2% and 8.4%, respectively). US+LIC publications, however, scored below theNØEnergy average (2.7%).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

65Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

Figure 32
Share of academic---private co-publications versus share of publications with exceptionally high collaborative diversity,
2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

66Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

North---South collaborations and research conducted in Global
South regions amounted to very small proportions of Global
North countries’ outputs (the South focus indicator), as can beseen in Figure 33. On average, Global North countries’
publications included a Global South-based co-author in just
9% of cases (the South international co-publication indicator).
Most countries and regions included in Figure 33 produced
publications with a comparatively low level of South focus.

“The capacity to make progress
seems too often to be concentrated
in particular places. That’s achallenge we’re all facing.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability,
University of Maryland at College Park

Figure 33
Global North countries’ (largest producers of publications) share of co-publications with Global South countries andregions versus share of publications with a South focus, 2011---2020. Weighted average of South international copublications was calculated for North countries only in this figure.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

67Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

In terms of individual countries and regions (Figure 33), the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia stand out, eachfor a different indicator. The Netherlands was the only North country with a South focus (of 6%) above theNØEnergy average (of 5%). Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, had by far the largest share of publications including
a South-based co-author (41%). The next best performer for share of publications was France: 20% of its
publications included a South-based co-author. Scores for this indicator were pulled down by the poor
performances of China (2%) and the United States (7%), the two largest producers of publications.
In light of the exceptional scores of some countries’ South international co-publications in Figure 33, thetop 10 performers were identified and the long-term trends in their collaborations were analyzed (Figure34). For these North countries, led by Saudi Arabia, France, Portugal, Australia and the United Kingdom,
strong North---South collaborations appear to be the result of long-term commitments. Trends have beenstable over time, at least in terms of countries’ positions relative to one another, with Saudi Arabia’s strong
performance in international collaboration driven by partnerships with Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, India andTunisia, as well as Global North countries.

Figure 34
Global North countries’ (largest producers of publications) share of co-publications with Global South countries, 2011--2020. Line thickness represents overall annual publication output.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

68Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

The topic clusters in NØEnergy with a clear South focus and regional engagement are rather different tothose with the largest overall output (Figure 35). The most South-focused topic cluster in terms of thenumber of publications, for example, is Energy | Economics | Electricity, which ranks fifth in NØEnergy
publications overall. Other South-focused topic clusters include Bioenergy | Biomass | Biofuels (which
ranks 20 positions higher in this category compared with NØEnergy publications overall), Microbial Fuel
Cells | Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors (nine positions higher) and Heat Pump Systems| Rankine Cycle |Exergy (also gaining nine positions).

Figure 35
Top 10 topic clusters by South-focused output, 2011---2020. Ranking differential compared to global NØEnergy
rankings provided on the left of the bars.
Source: Scopus

The top 10 topic clusters for Global South countries by income level are shown in Figure 36. For LICs, thelargest topics in terms of output volume are very different to those in NØEnergy in general. The topic
cluster Air Pollution | Particulate Matter | Air Pollutants, for example, moves up 72 places in this ranking
compared with overall NØEnergy publications. Microbial Fuel Cells | Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors is
also relatively more prominent within LIC publications, gaining 11 positions.
While in terms of overall NØEnergy output, the topic cluster Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | ElectricBatteries leads the way, it ranks much lower in importance in all categories for Global South countries. For
LICs, it drops to 8th position; for LMICs, 8th position as well; and for UMICs, 7th.

Global South countries also show higher output volumes ofbioenergy-related publications compared with NØEnergy
overall. In addition to the increased importance of Microbial
Fuel Cells | Anaerobic Digestion | Bioreactors to LICs
highlighted above, Engine Cylinders | Biodiesel | Diesel
Engines also makes gains in LICs, LMICs and UMICs
compared with NØEnergy overall (notably, this topic gains
ten positions in the ranking of UMIC publications).
These findings provide further support for the notion that
South-based research capacity-building and North---South
collaboration should consider the differing priorities of Global
South countries.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research“Budget plays a key role in the
promotion of clean energy
technologies, especially in developing
countries”.
Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy
Justice and Transitions, University of Sussex

69Section 1 | How does the Global South participate in NØEnergy research?

Figure 36
Top 10 topic clusters by output per income group within the Global South, 2011---2020. Ranking differential comparedwith global NØEnergy rankings provided on the left of the bars.
Source: Scopus“As we make progress towards a clean energy transition to net zero, we musthave significant plans in place to ensure that the Global South is able to buy into
this particular part. And that would depend largely on what has been offered tothem in terms of capacity development and, of course, in terms of knowledgetransfer. These are very important aspects that must be considered, otherwise
the whole idea of the transition will be wasted. Because the projected increase inenergy usage is going to come from the Global South, having them buy-in earlyenough benefits our ability to sustain the whole energy transition.”
Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy Justice and Transitions, University of Sussex

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

70

1.7

How mature is NØEnergy
research?

Most NØEnergy publications fall within the category of applied
technology, but publications in areas such as batteries, photocatalysts,
OLEDs and fuel cells tend toward more basic scientific or appliedresearch.
Globally, the share of basic scientific research in NØEnergy has remained roughly stable at 8%---9% overthe last two decades. However, NØEnergy publications in applied technology have increased substantially,
by more than 20 percentage points, over the same period (Figure 37). Meanwhile, the share of publicationsin applied research has declined considerably.
In this section, we analyze NØEnergy publications in more detail from the perspective of research levels, 28
aiming to provide policymakers and funders with an insight into the level of maturity of the research field
and to identify areas that may need more time and investment to reach maturity. We classify research by its
level of maturity, ranging from ‘‘basic scientific research’’, through ‘‘applied research’’ and ‘‘engineering--technological mix’’ to ‘‘applied technology’’ (see text box, next page).

“The role of research and development as an enabler of the energy transition is
crucial. On the one hand, in the development of core technologies, such as those
based on energy storage or renewable energy production, basic and appliedresearch are fundamental. On the other hand, we must be able to integrate these
new technologies into the energy system, which is a very complex system with ahigh degree of interdependence between the parts and agents that compose it.
Developing engineering solutions that enable this coordinated integration is
critical when it comes to achieving a change in the energy paradigm.”
Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor and Holder of the Smart Cities Chair, Universidad de Oviedo

28 See Boyack, K. W., Patek, M., Ungar, L. H., Yoon, P., & Klavans, R. (2014). Classification of individual articles from all of science by research level. Journal of

Informetrics, 8(1), 1---12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2013.10.005, and Klavans, R., & Boyack, K. W. (2017). Research portfolio analysis and topic prominence.
Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 1158---1174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.10.002

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

71Section 1 | How mature is NØEnergy research?

Research level classifications
Research can be categorized into different stages, ranging from the basic to more applied/clinical.
Generally, research in physics, chemistry, biology and some aspects of medicine tends to be more basic,
while engineering, computer science, social sciences and clinical medicine are more applied. In these areas,
there is a positive correlation between citation count (impact) and research level: citation counts decreaseduring the transition from basic to applied research.
In this report, publications are assigned to a research level based on a model developed by Klavans andBoyack (see footnote 28), which uses the title, abstract and cited references to classify individual articles by
research level. This model works best in the physical and life sciences, however, as the algorithm is lesseffective in the social sciences.

Figure 37
Distribution of global research levels in NØEnergy, 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus

The majority of publications in the largest NØEnergy topic clusters fall within the applied technology
category (Figure 38). Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries, Photocatalysts | Solar Cells |Photocatalysis, Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) andElectrocatalysts | Electrolytic Reduction | Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) stand out,
however, because these topic clusters are mainly focused on basic scientific and applied research. Other
topic clusters that display a larger share of basic scientific and applied research are presented in Figure 39.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

72Section 1 | How mature is NØEnergy research?

Figure 38
Distribution of output across research levels for the top 10 most published topic clusters in NØEnergy, 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus“Real innovation in science and technology at the R&D stage usually takes place
10–20 years before any commercial application can happen. It’s R&D on clean
production and sustainable consumption that will determine how we address
global climate change, irrespective of any technological innovation or economic
mechanisms.”
Dabo Guan, Distinguished Professor of Climate Change Economics, Tsinghua University; Chair at the
Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research73Section 1 | How mature is NØEnergy research?

Figure 39
Selected topic clusters with more than 5,000 publications that have larger shares of basic scientific and applied research
publications, 2001---2020.
Source: Scopus“In the case of research carried out, for example, in electrical energy transportand distribution systems, this is practically 100% based on applied technology,
while in other cases such as energy accumulation systems in electric batteries, thebulk of the research is applied research. The evolution of these percentage levels
over time is a very strong indicator of the degree of maturity of the technology.”
Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor and Holder of the Smart Cities Chair, Universidad de Oviedo

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

74Section 1 | How mature is NØEnergy research?

Among the most published countries in NØEnergy, Singapore has the largest share of basic scientificresearch publications in NØEnergy for the period 2001---2020, followed by Switzerland, Russia and Japan(Figure 40). Malaysia, Iran and Turkey, however, show the smallest shares of publications in this category.
South Korea and Japan have notably larger shares of publications in applied research, while applied
technology accounts for the largest shares of publications from Denmark, Iran and Malaysia, at 66%.

Figure 40
Research level distribution for those countries and regions contributing at least 1% of NØEnergy publications in 2011--2020. This period is presented to reflect the most recent trends.
Source: Scopus

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

75Section 1 | How mature is NØEnergy research?

As much as developing new research to push the frontiers on clean energy research is important, it isnecessary that the research is transformed into application. The data presented in this section and further
derivative analyses can provide insight into whether there is enough research in the applied side of thespectrum, particularly in those areas that are considered by government and leading intergovernmentalorganizations as important technology areas in achieving net zero targets. The next section focuses on one
element of this transition: academic---corporate collaborations in research.

“We’ve got a lot of the technologies that we need to get to net zero, but they’re
not necessarily at the stage that we need them to be to contribute effectively tothe net zero transition. About half the technologies are already maturing in themarket, but the other half still need developing. The initial research phase is thestart of it all: it’s the genesis of everything. But then you need development anddemonstration, and then deployment. All four of these phases must occur for thetechnologies to play their part in enabling us to get to net zero with decent living
standards for all.”
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair, Climate Group

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

76

1.8

What are the academic–
corporate collaboration trends inNØEnergy research?

Academic---corporate collaboration in NØEnergy research has increased
over the last two decades, overtaking the global average and led by
Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The net zero transition demands knowledge exchange between
academia and industry to establish a dialogue around strategic
priorities and support the translation of research into practicalapplications.
Our analysis reveals that while the total number of publicationsin NØEnergy resulting from academic---corporate collaborations
has increased continuously over the last two decades, the overall
share has remained relatively stable (Figure 41). This trend inNØEnergy academic---corporate collaborations echoes overall
global research trends. In terms of scholarly impact, publications
from academic---corporate collaborations tended to have higher
FWCI values than the global average until 2019, after which theimpact of these publications in NØEnergy fell below the global
average.

What are academic---corporate publications?
In this report, academic---corporate
collaboration refers to publications for which atleast one author is affiliated with a corporation
and at least one author is affiliated with anacademic institution.
We acknowledge that the breadth ofacademic---corporate collaborations goesbeyond joint publications.

“Given that large energy corporations are present in the integration phase, it isalso necessary to promote and establish strong cooperative links between researchorganizations and these corporations so that research does not remain in theacademic sphere but is transferred smoothly to the industrial sector.”
Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor and Holder of the Smart Cities Chair, Universidad de Oviedo

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

77Section 1 | What are the academic---corporate collaboration trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 41
Share and impact of publications with academic---corporate collaboration, 2001---2020. Dark green line indicates theshare of publications with academic---corporate collaboration, mapped to the left axis. The dots indicate the fieldweighted citation impact, mapped to the right axis.
Source: Scopus

The share of NØEnergy publications with academic---corporate collaboration is generally higher thanoverall, at both the global and country/region levels. Our analysis indicates that academic---corporate
collaboration is more prevalent in European countries, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea(Figure 42). In the period 2011---2020, Switzerland had the largest share of such publications in NØEnergy,
with collaboration focused in the fields of Electric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters, Wind
Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution and Photocatalysts | Solar Cells| Photocatalysis. The Netherlands, which had the second largest share of academic---corporate publicationsin NØEnergy in that period, was similarly concentrated on Electric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC
Converters and Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution, as well as
Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

78Section 1 | What are the academic---corporate collaboration trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 42
Share of NØEnergy publications with academic---corporate collaboration (left panel) for countries and regions
accounting for at least 1% of publications in 2011---2020. Right panel shows the share of overall academic---corporate
collaborations for the same countries and regions.
Source: Scopus

Some of the largest topic clusters in NØEnergy, such as Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices andWind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution, also demonstrate thehighest levels of academic---corporate collaboration and saw their shares increase, decade on decade, from2001---2010 to 2011---2020 (Figure 43). Most of the other major topic clusters with lower shares of academic--corporate collaboration show declining levels of collaboration over these periods, except Energy |Economics | Electricity, Pyrolysis | Coal | Gasification, Ventilation | Buildings | Air Conditioning and Heat
Pump Systems | Rankine Cycle | Exergy.
Several other topic clusters with shares of academic---corporate publications above 10% are not shown on
the chart. These include Partial Discharges | Insulation | Power Transformers, CMOS Integrated Circuits |Variable Frequency Oscillators | Power Amplifiers, Oil Well Flooding | Hydraulic Fracturing | Reservoirs(Water), Austenite | Microstructure | Steel, Electric Grounding | Lightning | Lightning Protection, MOSFET
Devices | Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) | Silicon Carbide, Data Storage Equipment | Applications| Program Processors and Manufacture | Industry | Automation.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

79Section 1 | What are the academic---corporate collaboration trends in NØEnergy research?

Figure 43
Share of publications with academic---corporate collaboration in topic clusters contributing more than 1% of allNØEnergy publications in 2011---2020. Left panel shows values for 2001---2010 and right panel values for 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus“One of the things that corporates have, and that academia often doesn’t, is anunderstanding of what the challenges are in the market. And so they can help
academia to think about where the next priorities lie. They can shape the focus of
the academic work, and then they can help to get it through into the market.”
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair, Climate Group

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

80

1.9

What role do corporates play inNØEnergy research?

European corporates produce a large share of NØEnergy publications,but Chinese organizations are starting to overtake. However, the shareof NØEnergy publications from corporates is declining, and few of thelargest emitters produce any significant research output.
Corporations have a very important role to play in achieving net zero, not only because they can be large
emitters of CO2 but also because they can bring new clean energy or mitigating technologies to market.
Research by Richard Heede indicates ‘‘that nearly two-thirds of historic carbon dioxide and methane
emissions can be attributed to 90 entities.’’ 29
In this section, we look in detail at the focus of and contribution from corporations to NØEnergy research.
When we refer to output from corporates, we define this as publications that have at least one corporate
author. An organization is classified as a corporate entity via their registration data, and this classification
can include independent research organizations too.
The contribution from corporates to NØEnergy output declined
from a share of 9% to 5% over the period 2011---2020, with a
CAGR of 2.4%, considerably lower than the overall CAGR inNØEnergy publications of 8.2%. This decline in NØEnergy
corporate output is not a global trend: corporate output from
China across the board increased by 21% over the same period(Figure 44). The United States, however, showed a small decline
of 4% in corporate output during this time.
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia also had very high CAGRs in
corporate NØEnergy publications, partially as a result of theirvery low outputs at the beginning of the period. While Japanand Switzerland had the largest shares of corporate output
overall, both had negative growth rates over the past 10 years. It
is also worth noting that Norway, Finland and Austria, each ofwhich contributed less than 1% to the total number ofNØEnergy publications, had very large shares of corporate
output of 29%, 22% and 13%, respectively.

“When research, technology
development and innovation are
combined with policy and market
design, targeted to the actual
needs of society and corporates,
then innovative systems
approaches can truly achieve net
zero programs.”
Yutao Wang, Professor, Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering,
Fudan University

29 Heede, R. (2014). Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854--2010. Climatic Change, 122, 229---241. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-013-0986-y

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research81Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

Figure 44
Corporate output of countries and regions contributing to at least 1% of NØEnergy publications, 2011---2020. The total
output from the corporate sector is shown on the left, the CAGR of output is shown in the middle chart and the shareof corporate output within NØEnergy is shown on the right.
Source: Scopus

The top 20 corporates with the largest shares of NØEnergy publications during two periods-----2001---2010
and 2011---2020-----are shown in Figure 45. The most prolific corporates during 2001---2010 were largely fromthe most productive countries and regions in terms of NØEnergy publications over the same period, with
the notable exception of China. While China produced the second largest volume of publications in 2001--2010, its only corporate making it into the top 20 was China Electric Power Institute, ranking 19th.
Conversely, while Dutch company Philips was the 6th most highly ranked corporate in 2001---2010, theNetherlands only ranked 14th overall. In fact, Philips contributed to over 8% of the Netherlands’ total
output in NØEnergy. Similarly, while Norway produced fewer than 2,000 publications in NØEnergy in
2001---2010, the Norwegian independent research organization SINTEF contributed to over 17% of thecountry’s publications.
Over the last decade, 2011---2020, Chinese corporates such as State Grid Corporation of China and China
Electric Power Research Institute have led the way in NØEnergy publications. State Grid’s annual output
grew exponentially from 2001 to 2020. Meanwhile, SINTEF’s output increased sixfold, taking it to third
position in the corporate ranking and contributing to over 20% of Norway’s total output. Companies
including IBM and Intel also increased their output considerably and moved up the rankings.
Several corporates produced at least 100 publications during the period 2011---2020, achieving average
FWCI values of over 3.0, but are not among the top 20 in terms of output. These include Nvidia, Lucent
and Microsoft from the United States; Panasonic Corporation from Japan; Nokia from Finland; BASF from
Germany; Ericsson and RISE ICT from Sweden; SK Corporation from South Korea; and Huawei
Technologies from China.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research82Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

Figure 45
Top 20 corporates in terms of number of NØEnergy publications for 2001---2010 (left panel) and 2011---2020 (rightpanel). Color indicates the average field-weighted citation impact; blue is below the world average (1.0) and green is
above the world average.
Source: Scopus

The topic clusters with the largest proportion of corporate publications tend to match those with thehighest number of NØEnergy publications, although the rankings differ (Figure 46). However, the largest
topic cluster on both counts is Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric PowerDistribution, driven mainly by Chinese corporates. Corporates also contribute to over 10% of publicationsin Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices, primarily the US corporate General Atomics. The topic
cluster High Electron Mobility Transistors | Gallium Nitride | Light Emitting Diodes also has corporate
publications of more than 10%, primarily from Samsung, LG, Osram and EPISTAR Corporation.
Unsurprisingly, Fuel Economy | Hybrid Vehicles | Electric Vehicles has a large share of corporate
publications from automotive manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company and AVL List
GmbH. Two related topic clusters, Electric Inverters | Electric Potential | DC-DC Converters and Lithium
Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries, are also among the fastest growing in terms of corporate
publications, along with Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission Networks | Electric Power Distribution.
Although output in the topic cluster Photocatalysts | Solar Cells | Photocatalysis has also grown very rapidly
overall, this is not reflected in corporate output. In most of the above-mentioned topic clusters, researchtends to be focused on applied technology (see Section 1.7).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

83Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

A few topic clusters have a smaller share of applied technology publications but a relatively large corporate
presence. In the battery-related field, Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries | Electric Batteries, Samsung(South Korea), General Motors and Ford Motor Company (United States), Hydro-Quebec (Canada), Toyota
Motor Corporation and Toyota Central R&D Labs (Japan), BASF, BMW Group and Robert Bosch GmbH
(Germany), China Electric Power Research Institute and GRINM Group (China) each have more than 100
publications. The US organization General Atomics and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.
produced more than 100 publications in Magnetoplasma | Plasmas | Tokamak Devices. General Motors,
Ballard Power Systems from Canada and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. from Japan also notched up more than 100
publications each in Electrocatalysts | Electrolytic Reduction | Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells(PEMFCs). In Solar Cells | Conjugated Polymers | Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED), Samsung and LG
Corporation from South Korea produced more than 100 publications.
Meanwhile, SINTEF from Norway, LG Corporation and Samsung from South Korea, CSEM SA from
Switzerland, and Total S.A. from France each report more than 50 publications in Silicon | Solar Cells |Silicon Solar Cells. Over 50 publications were also contributed by Samsung in Photocatalysts | Solar Cells |Photocatalysis and Yttria Stabilized Zirconia | Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) | Perovskite, along with
SOLIDpower from Italy, Haldor Topsoe from Denmark, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

“The academic–corporate collaboration data show that such collaborations havebeen increasing in clean energy research over the last 20 years, but the data on
corporate publications show that their share in the field has been declining since2010. In short, corporates are publishing less, but they are collaborating morewith academia when they do so.”Yutao Wang, Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

84Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

Figure 46
Top 20 topic clusters in terms of corporate output and their share of the overall topic cluster. Right-hand chart shows
the distribution of all NØEnergy publications within the topic cluster across research levels, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus“In Japan solar power is an efficient electricity source, yet uptake of renewables
in general is only now gathering pace. Some parts of society do not necessarily
desire rapid change, and companies prefer to initiate it themselves rather thanbeing told to change. As researchers, we need to consider how we navigate oursocietal systems to be able to effect change.”
Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.; President, Platinum Society
Network; 28th President, University of Tokyo

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

85Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

Figure 47 shows the topic clusters with the largest shares of corporate output. Most of these topic clusters
contain very few publications in basic scientific or applied research.

Figure 47
Topic clusters with a corporate output share of more than 15%, 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus

The topic clusters with at least 10 publications from the 20 largest corporate emitters of GHGs 30 are
presented in Figure 48. The figure shows that the top emitters focus their research on a more limited
number of topic clusters than is the case for the NØEnergy field overall. The largest number of publications
are focused on oil (Oil Well Flooding | Hydraulic Fracturing | Reservoirs (Water) and Well Drilling | Drilling
Fluids | Drilling) and carbon capture (Carbon Capture | Storage (Materials) | Shale), as well as Energy |Economics | Electricity. However, it is noteworthy that these corporates also have interests in alternative
fuels such as biodiesel (Engine Cylinders | Biodiesel | Diesel Engines, Bioenergy | Biomass | Biofuels) andhydrogen (Hydrogenation | Catalysts | Zeolites), as well batteries (Lithium Alloys | Secondary Batteries |Electric Batteries). There is also some attention directed at Pyrolysis | Coal | Gasification and Reservoir |Basin | Shale. Of the more well-established renewable energy areas, there is more output in photovoltaics(Silicon | Solar Cells | Silicon Solar Cells, Solar Energy | Solar | Photovoltaic Cells) than wind power. Overall,
corporates seem to publish in a more concentrated set of topic clusters, compared to the breadth observedin the overall NØEnergy field.
No publications in NØEnergy were identified from National Iranian Oil, Coal India, Pemex, Petroleos deVenezuela, Peabody Energy or Iraq National Oil Company. Our analysis also failed to find any topic clusters
with more than 10 publications from Gazprom, ConocoPhillips, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., Sonatrach or BHP
Billiton, although they performed slightly better overall than the previous group.

30 Taylor, M., & Watts, J. (2019, October 9). Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions. The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

86Section 1 | What role do corporates play in NØEnergy research?

Figure 48
Topic clusters for top corporate GHG emitters, with more than 10 NØEnergy publications for 2011---2020.
Source: Scopus“Looking at Figure 48, clearly there is a lot of interest in oil/CCS and energy
economics. But I think it is interesting that there is also interest in
biodiesel/engines (perhaps showing a desire to use a fuel substitute in existing
infrastructure). Beyond that, it is solar and wind, mostly, with a little bit about
substitute gas. What’s interesting is that there is nowhere near the level ofdiversity seen in the main NØEnergy topic list, perhaps suggesting a morestrategic/limited corporate focus.”
Patricia Thornley, Director, Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute, Aston University

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

87

1.10

How does NØEnergy researchtranslate into patents?

Patents citing NØEnergy research increased greatly from 2001 to 2020,
dominated by the United States, Japan and Germany. China’s patentportfolio has grown exponentially over the same period.
NØEnergy research can ultimately only help tackle climate change if it makes a successful transition toreal-world applications. Moreover, the ability of nations to invent and develop innovative clean energy
technologies and use these innovations to support local clean energy infrastructures could form the basisof thriving economies.
In this report we look at patents from two angles to see how NØEnergy research translates into
applications. Initially, we determined how many patents cite NØEnergy research publications. However,
not all patents cite academic literature. Therefore, to capture the corporate sector’s contribution, we also
explore patents directly and categorize them by topic. By analyzing NØEnergy research in terms ofacademic output, academic co-publications, patent citations and patenting activities, we are able to get amore complete picture of how different countries contribute.
Initially we examined patents citing NØEnergy publications filed at five patent offices: the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property
Organization, the Japan Patent Office and the United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Office. However, theChina National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) is not included in this analysis, so only
Chinese patents that have been filed globally under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are included. In general,most Chinese patents are only filed locally at the CNIPA, so the statistics presented for China in the firstpart of this section are an underestimation.
Active patent families were analyzed using LexisNexis PatentSight, a powerful and easy-to-use analysis
platform compiling bibliographic patent data from over 95 authorities worldwide (see Appendix C). Inactive
patents, which cannot be enforced or monetized, are excluded from our analysis.

“Technological development is fundamental. Reducing the costs of energy
storage systems is critical to the electrification of systems, as storage systems
will provide the necessary flexibility to the energy system to be able to massively
integrate renewable generation.”
Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor and Holder of the Smart Cities Chair, Universidad de Oviedo
Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

88Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Patent citations and patent publishing
A citation of a publication by a patent is a relatively rare event compared with a citation by another scientificpublication. Citation by a patent also takes longer because of the time required to develop an invention to
the point where it is ready to be patented. Patent applications must be filed with a patent office, which then‘‘publishes’’ the patent sometime later. The granting of a patent takes even longer. In this report, we countpatents that have reached the point of publication.
Patent families
A patent family is a set of related patents that are filed at multiple patent authorities to protect the same
invention in more than one country.
Portfolio size
Portfolio size indicates the number of patent families attributable to an entity-----for example, a country or
region, or a topic cluster, or the overall total.
Commercial value of patents
Several indicators are used to assess the commercial value of a patent, including the geographical market
size or market coverage, where the bigger the market, the higher the value of the patent, and citations toother patents or technology relevance, in which the more patents that cite an older patent, the higher its
value. In this report, we also use a composite indicator, competitive impact, to assess the value of individual
patent families. This indicator is the product of market coverage and technology relevance.
Patent asset index
The patent asset index (PAI) indicates the value of a patent portfolio. The PAI is a composite indicator,
taking into account the portfolio size, technology relevance and market coverage.
Inventor country or region
In this section, we use the term ‘‘inventor country or region’’. While technically a country or region is not aninventor, it can be helpful to infer the country or region of origin of a patent from the address of theinventor. The term is shorthand for all the patents originating from a specific country or region.
How the patent literature cites NØEnergy publications
Our analysis shows there has been strong growth in the portfolio size of patents citing NØEnergy
publications over the last two decades (Figure 49). From the total of over 1.6 million publications inNØEnergy, just over 286,000 publications (~15%) have been cited by nearly 82,000 patent families. Of
these, over 62,000 patent families were still active at the end of 2020. Annual patent publications hit a peakof 5,390 in 2014, with a second high point of 5,363 in 2017 (not shown in graph). The slower growth seen in
more recent years is likely the result of the lag between patent application and publication, which varies
between national patent authorities. For example, patents at the EPO take an average of 18 months tocomplete the process from filing to publication.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research89Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 49
Global patent portfolio size, 2001---2020, for patents citing NØEnergy research publications.
Source: PatentSight“The IEA published a report earlier this year that showed that the growth ininternational patent families has been more than double for clean technologies
generally, compared with those for fossil fuel technologies. That’s quite a shift.
And in the latest year for which they quote a figure, 2019, it’s probably not far
short of three times the gross. We have to bear in mind that it’s starting from alower base, but it shows an important trend in the significance of thesetechnologies and the significance of research development in them”.
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair, Climate Group

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research90Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Most active patent families (75%) are owned by corporates, followed by academia with 26% and inventors
with 15% (Figure 50). The share of patents from academia citing NØEnergy research is well above the global
average for this sector, which is around 14%. This could be because academic researchers are more heavily
reliant on and familiar with research publications than corporate researchers.
It should be noted here that ownership percentages do not add up to 100%, because a patent may be
owned by more than one of the three groups simultaneously. For example, a patent could be filed byindividual researchers together with their institutions or jointly by a corporate and an academic institution.
Inventors’ patents are owned by individuals in some cases and not always jointly with academic or
corporate institutions. Inventor patents peaked in 2013 and have steadily declined since then, which could,
in part, be the result of changing internal policies, especially in academia, regarding the transfer ofintellectual property rights from an employee inventor to their institution.

Figure 50
Shares of patent owners by sector for patents citing NØEnergy publications, 2001---2020; percentages may not add up
to 100% as a patent can have multiple owners.
Source: PatentSight

The United States has the largest portfolio of active patents citing NØEnergy publications, followed by
Japan, South Korea, Germany and China (Figure 51). While our previous analyses indicate that European
countries have the largest share of academic---corporate collaboration (see Section 1.8), the region falls
behind in the number of patents citing NØEnergy publications. However, the citation practices ofindividual national patent offices may bias our findings toward the United States. Patents from the USPTO
have, on average, many more citations (over 20) than patents from the EPO (4---5, on average). If the CNIPA
was included in our analysis, the numbers for China would likely be much higher than reported. Overall,countries with the largest patent portfolios closely match those with the largest scholarly output.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research91Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 51
Number of patents citing NØEnergy publications for five inventor countries with the largest active patent portfolios, byyear for 2001---2020.
Source: PatentSight

In our analysis, the United States is the leading nation not only in patent portfolio size but also in patentvalue, followed by Japan and Germany (Figure 52). China ranks 4th and South Korea 5th, although theirregional patent authorities fall outside our analysis. However, South Korea makes many of its filings at the
USPTO, which is covered here. China’s strong performance is noteworthy despite the bias in our
methodology.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

92Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 52
Aggregated patent portfolio for patents citing NØEnergy publications by inventor country or region for 2001---2020.
Source: PatentSight

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

93Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Analyzing citing patents in NØEnergy by technology cluster
Patent output can also be analyzed in terms of ‘‘technology clusters’’ using an AI-driven approach to define
relevant areas. A patent family is assigned to one specific technology cluster, giving an insight into theareas in which a patent portfolio is focused. In our analysis, the largest shares of patents citing NØEnergy
publications are found in Electronics, Electric Power and Semiconductors (43%), Chemistry (23%) andInformation Technologies (12%) (Figure 53). Physics (8%) and Telecommunications (5%) follow, with othertechnology clusters making up less than 5% (not shown). Surprisingly, Machines, which includes windturbine generators, heat exchangers and the like, has a share of less than 2%.

Figure 53
Technology clusters for active patent families citing NØEnergy publications, 2020.
Source: PatentSight

The technology focus of the patent portfolios of Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and Europe
are strikingly different (Figure 54). While the United States and Europe have quite similar shares of the
major technology clusters (close to the global breakdown shown in Figure 53), Japan has a much larger
share in Electronics, with almost two-thirds of its patents citing NØEnergy publications in this category.
South Korea has a similar focus to Japan, with China falling somewhere in between the two.
Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

94Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 54
Technology clusters for active patent families citing NØEnergy publications from the United States, Europe, Japan,
China and South Korea, 2020.
Source: PatentSight

The differences in technology focus of national patent portfolios shown in Figure 54 most likely reflect the
specialization of corporations in those countries since they own the majority of patents. Semiconductor
Energy Labs in Japan, for example, has the largest portfolio of patents citing NØEnergy publications,followed by technology giants Samsung and LG in South Korea and GE in the United States. These
organizations all have large general patent portfolios and are well-known for generating intellectual
property from research. However, looking at the share of patents citing NØEnergy publications out of thetotal portfolio reveals a different picture (Figure 55). Half of the patents owned by Universal Display (basedin the United States) cite NØEnergy publications, while less than 5% of those held by Samsung and LG do
so. Elsewhere, academic and governmental research organizations including Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) and Battelle in the United States, along with CEA in France, hold large shares of patents
citing NØEnergy research.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research95Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 55
Patents citing NØEnergy publications by portfolio size (dark green bar and bottom scale) and by share of the total
portfolio (light green dots and top scale) for the top 15 patent owners globally, 2020. GE = General Electric (USA), CEA =Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FRA), MIT = Massachusetts Institute of Technology(USA), ITRI = Industrial Technology Research Institute (CHN), CNRS = Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique(FRA).
Source: PatentSight

Identifying NØEnergy patents directly
To provide a more detailed view, we complement our analysis of patents citing NØEnergy publications bylooking at patent filings directly. Since patent language is quite different from the vocabulary used inresearch publications, search queries defining topics of interest in academic literature are difficult totranslate directly into patent queries. We have, therefore, taken an approach developed by PatentSight toidentify patents relevant to SDG 7 through a combination of AI and manual curation of patents. Thisapproach maps patents based on the targets, indicators and metadata of SDG 7 and is similar, but not
identical, to the approach used for research publications. Moreover, looking directly at patent activity
enables the inclusion of almost all Chinese patents in our analysis.
We categorize the resulting set of patents into 11 subcategories that match themes defined within SDG 7(Affordable and Clean Energy). These are Energy Efficiency, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Geothermal

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

96Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Energy, Ocean Energy, Energy from Waste, Nuclear Energy, Biomass Energy and Biofuel, Improvement inFossil Fuel Technology, Resilient Building and GHG Emission Reduction.
Overall, active patents in NØEnergy totaled 800,000 by the end of 2020, with the number publishedannually increasing to more than 100,000 (Figure 56). This growth is consistent with that observed forpatents citing NØEnergy publications, as shown in Figure 49. The annual growth in the number of patents
identified in this analysis was relatively stable between 2001 and 2010 but started to grow almost
exponentially in 2008, with the number of active patents tripling in just 10 years.

Figure 56
Number of active patents in NØEnergy, 2001---2020.
Source: PatentSight

China’s almost exponential growth in annual patent publications, which also took off in 2008, is largely
responsible for driving global growth (Figure 57). Among the top 10 patent-holding countries and regions,
China had the largest patent portfolio in NØEnergy by 2015, surpassing the United States in 2012 andJapan in 2014. By the end of 2020, almost half of all global active patents originated in China.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

97Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 57
Number of NØEnergy patents by country and region for the top 10 by portfolio size, 2001---2020. Portfolio size is inlogarithmic scale and starts at 100.
Source: PatentSight

China, as noted previously, pursues a local filing strategy, so 320,000 of its 362,000 patents in 2020 wereactive only in its national market and not globally. This local strategy is also reflected in the value of its
patent portfolio. Although China has by far the largest portfolio, its value is less than that of other leading
inventor countries and regions. Despite having one of the largest markets, filing patents locally significantly
affects the value of China’s portfolio. Other inventor countries and regions file more than 50% of theirpatents outside their home market, thereby increasing their portfolio value (Figure 58).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research98Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 58
Portfolio size and competitive impact of NØEnergy active patents for the top 10 countries and regions by portfolio size,2020. Size of the bubbles indicates the patent asset index.
Source: PatentSight

Our analysis of the technological focus of NØEnergy patents (Figure 59) reveals a strong focus on GHG
Emission Reduction. By the end of 2020, two-thirds of all patent families fell within this area, followed atsome distance by Solar Energy, Improvement to Fossil Fuel Technology and Wind Energy. The portfolio
size of Solar Energy, however, doubled between 2008 and 2011, from 20,000 to more than 40,000 patents.
Nuclear Energy and Energy from Waste declined at the beginning of the period but picked up again from2008 onwards.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research99Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 59
Number of patents by NØEnergy subcategory, for 2001---2020. Portfolio size is on a logarithmic scale.
Source: PatentSight

To assess whether the patent portfolios of individual countries and regions focus on specific NØEnergy
topics, we calculated a RAI (the share of patents in a subcategory from a particular country divided by the
total global share in the same subcategory). Figure 60 reveals that the main focus of the portfolios of Japan,
South Korea and Germany is GHG Emission Reduction, whereas for China it is Energy from Waste andImprovement in Fossil Fuel Technology. The United States’ portfolio, meanwhile, is more concentrated on
Solar Energy, Improvement in Fossil Fuel Technology, Energy Efficiency, Resilient Building and Biomass
Energy and Biofuel. A similar emphasis on Improvement in Fossil Fuel Technology and Biomass Energy
and Biofuel is observed for Russia, reflecting these nations’ major resources in oil and gas. Russia, and to alesser extent the United States, also has interests in Nuclear Energy.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research100Section 1 | How does NØEnergy research translate into patents?

Figure 60
Relative patent activity of the top 10 countries and regions (by portfolio size) with active NØEnergy patents, 2020.
Source: PatentSight“Efficiency remains important. If you think about the cost of solar panels, themost expensive part is not the active layer (which produces electricity) but thesurrounding frame, for example, or the glass panel that covers the active layer, or
the steel that supports the panel. In short, the installation materials are very
costly. So, if the energy efficiency doubles, you get double the power per
installation, halving costs.”
Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.; President, Platinum Society
Network; 28th President, University of Tokyo

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

101

1.11

How much policy and media
attention does NØEnergy
research receive?

NØEnergy research receives only slightly more attention frompolicymakers and online news than other research fields.
Given the urgency of addressing climate change through NØEnergy research, the field should be grabbing
the attention of policymakers, online media and knowledge sources. In its Global Renewables Outlook
report, the International Renewable Energy Agency argued directly for an interdependency between
technology transfer and broader knowledge transfer, stating that ‘‘[i]ncreased support is needed forinnovation across the innovation chain (research, development and demonstration) including taking asystemic approach to innovation where technology development is partnered with innovations in businessmodels and changes in the way processes operate, and is enabled by innovative approaches to policy andmarket design.’’ 31
Our analysis of how NØEnergy research publications are covered by policy-related and online news
channels reveals several interesting findings. As part of scientific advice and policymaking activities,NØEnergy research is taken up by governmental agencies such as the European Commission, the US
government and the German Umwelt Bundesamt. NØEnergy research also informs the work ofintergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and think tanks, including the World Bank, the Wuppertal Institut
and the IPCC. Research from smaller European countries,
including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria andDenmark, tends to receive more news mentions and policy“While R&I are important for
uptake.
Although our analysis finds that, overall, NØEnergy publications
receive only average levels of policy-related uptake and news
mentions, research in smaller topic clusters fares better.
Publications in emerging areas such as biofuels, as well as carbon
capture and energy economics, are mentioned more often in
online media and policy documents than those in otherNØEnergy areas.
To get a sense of how near or far NØEnergy research is fromrealizing policy-related or other societal outcomes, this section
considers how research in this field is cited or mentioned in
online repositories of policy advice and policymaking, or injournalist-generated news or social media platforms: an approachachieving clean energy transition,
political will in terms ofgovernment activities and, ofcourse, support is equally
critical.”

Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in
Energy Justice and Transitions, Universityof Sussex

31 International Renewable Energy Agency. (2020). Global renewables outlook. Energy transformation 2050. https://irena.org/publications/2020/Apr/Global-

Renewables-Outlook-2020

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

102Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

known as altmetrics. Further information on altmetrics
approaches and their limitations can be found in the
two accompanying text boxes.
There is a relatively low uptake of NØEnergy research inpolicy-related literature, news articles, blogs andWikipedia. Only 2.5% of NØEnergy publications arecited in policy-related literature, a mere 1% are
mentioned in news items or blogs and only 0.8% by
Wikipedia.
These figures may appear very low, but online mentionsof research findings are rare events, especially in appliedsciences and engineering. Of all the energy-related
publications in Scopus (not just NØEnergy) just 3.2%
are mentioned in policy-related documents, forexample. 35 In applied sciences that figure is even lower,
at 2.5%.

Altmetrics indicators
This section presents findings on citations and mentions ofNØEnergy publications outside of Scopus-----for example, in
repositories of policy-related literature (such as the UK
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology), online
news portals (such as The Conversation or the New YorkTimes) or social media platforms (e.g., Wikipedia).
When we refer to news or journalistic mentions, we define
this as content generated by journalists, or scientific news
aggregators with editorial oversight.
Scientific and policy leaders recently called for an increased
focus on synoptic science, 32 which refers to syntheses of

The number of mentions of NØEnergy research in
Wikipedia is comparable with related fields, while thosein the news are higher (the share of applied science andengineering publications receiving news mentions isaround 0.5%). On balance, NØEnergy research receives
as much or slightly more attention from the wider
media than comparable applied sciences andengineering fields.

evidence from research material produced with the aim of

Figure 61 shows that between 2001 and 2020 NØEnergy
publications in Climate Action (SDG 13) were much
more likely to be taken up than those in Affordable andClean Energy (SDG7). Mentions in policy-related
documents have declined over time, which is to be
expected given the typical time lag of 3---4 years between
the publication of a peer-reviewed article and its citationin policy-related material. 36 Reference to NØEnergy
research on news websites has increased in recent years,
which could be the result of sectoral or indexing trends
as well as the relevancy of the research itself.

link peer-reviewed publication records to those from

helping policymakers. Policy-related documents made up oftechnical advice and evidence syntheses are known assynoptic science documents.
We use the PlumX 33 and Overton 34 databases to produce
our altmetrics indicators. Both databases mix automatedcoding and parsing methods with some manual curation to
selected online repositories and aggregators.
Our analysis captures discussion of NØEnergy findings
outside of the academic community, among policymakers
or government scientists, scientific educators, and a broad
audience of the science-news-reading public. Qualitative
case studies remain the methodological benchmark for
capturing societal outcomes of research; however, theycannot be conducted at the scale of this report.

32 Science|Business. (2021). Bridging the gap between climate science and policy. See https://sciencebusiness.net/report/bridging-gap-between-climate-science-

and-policy

33 See https://plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics/mention-metrics/
34 See https://www.overton.io/

35 Pinheiro, H., Vignola-Gagné, E., & Campbell, D. (2021). A large-scale validation of the relationship between cross-disciplinary research and its uptake in policy-

related documents, using the novel Overton altmetrics database. Quantitative Science Studies, 1---40. doi:10.1162/qss_a_00137

36 Ibid.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research103Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Figure 61
Trends in policy and news mentions of NØEnergy research, by SDG area, 2001---2020. Percentage shares capture theproportion of articles mentioned or cited at least once by the types of documents listed on the left.
Source: Scopus and PlumX data

In policy-related literature, NØEnergy research is cited in publications from a variety of governmental,
intergovernmental and think tank organizations (Figure 62). Reports from the European Commission
include by far the most citations of NØEnergy publications (almost 7,000). The European Joint ResearchCentre comes in as the second largest policy-related citing organization. Reports and documents from the
US Government Publishing Office and the US House Committees are also major users of NØEnergy
publications (with 2,000 and 1,000 mentions respectively). The Analysis & Policy Observatory, while not apolicymaking agency itself, nevertheless captures mentions of NØEnergy research in policy-related
documents from multiple Australian and New Zealand agencies.
Other major users of NØEnergy research in the IGO sector include the World Bank (almost 2,000NØEnergy publications mentioned), the IPCC (over 1,000 publications) and the International Renewable
Energy Agency (over 1,000 publications). Think tanks and foundations are also represented in this list-----forexample, the Wuppertal Institut (close to 2,000 publications mentioned).

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research104Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Limitations to altmetrics-----language and geography
While the altmetrics approaches used here are not altogether new as of 2021, their limitations are still
being actively investigated. In this report, we have made cautious use of related indicators, restricting
calculations to shares of publications cited or mentioned at least once on altmetrics platforms. Intensities
of citations have not been used here.
Even so, an important caveat remains: altmetrics databases have much better coverage of sourcesarchiving documents in Western languages. In fact, sources in languages such as Mandarin are notcovered at all in terms of policy-related content. Journalistic mentions from some Asian sources areincluded in PlumX, but it is not yet known to what extent coverage can be directly compared to those ofEnglish-language sources. Therefore, cautious expectations would be for the findings in this section totend to favor English-speaking countries or regions and, to a lesser extent, European countries and Japan(which have fair coverage in Overton). Wikipedia references can be processed irrespective of language.
Because of these limitations, altmetrics findings for Global South and Asian countries and regions arelikely to capture only a subset of mentions in documents aimed at an international audience.

“The clean energy transition requires thinking about two things. One of these iswhich avenues are going to be most successful. What are going to be theinvestments you want to make, the policies you want to put in place that aregoing to have the most bang for your buck and would have the biggest effect?
And you need research to articulate what those innovative technologies are or
which innovative policies work. The second thing, because this is all very
uncertain, is to ensure you’re not making investments that are going to lock you
in to pathways that might not be consistent with a clean energy transition orthat will make it difficult for you to follow it. An obvious example is investing infossil fuel infrastructure. Understanding from research whether you’re going to
be investing in technologies that may not be on the long-term path or if you’re
putting in place policies that might get you off that path is really important.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability, University of
Maryland at College Park

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

105Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Figure 62
The 25 main organizations citing NØEnergy research publications in policy-related reports, 2011---2020. Note that theAnalysis & Policy Observatory is an organization that maintains a repository of policy-related documents, rather thanbeing a policy agency itself.
Source: Scopus and Overton

IGOs make the most use of NØEnergy publications, closely followed by the European Union and theUnited States (Figure 63). Bars on the graph represent the volume of publications by country (right column)
cited in the policy-related document of a specific organization or country (left column). Our analysis shows
the role of IGOs in NØEnergy-associated knowledge transfer. With governmental agencies disaggregatedby country, IGOs and the European Union are revealed as the largest policy-related citers of NØEnergy
publications. The multinational directions of these connections are also evident. Policy-related agencies,
regardless of location, take up research findings from many different countries rather than just their own.
For instance, German policy-related documents cite US publications just as often as native ones. US policyrelated documents, however, do tend to refer to home-generated scientific publications more often.
Nevertheless, this pool of articles still amounts to less than 50% of the total referenced by US policy-related
documentation. French, Dutch, Swedish and Australian policy-related documents do not appear to favor
publications from any particular country, including their own. This is surprising given the biases incoverage toward English-language or European policy-related documents in the Overton database.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

106Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Figure 63
Relationships between countries and organizations in policy-related uptake of NØEnergy research, 2011---2020. Policy-related documents aggregated by country are denoted on
the left. NØEnergy publications aggregated by country are denoted on the right. The connections between left and right columns are citations of NØEnergy publications bypolicy-related documents. IGO: Intergovernmental organization.
Source: Scopus and Overton

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research107Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Policy-related and news uptake of NØEnergy research in selected breakdowns of North---South
collaborations (using the same categories explored in Figure 31 and Figure 32) are shown in Figure 64. This
analysis can be used to indicate whether these collaborations are likely (or not) to contribute to thedevelopment of solutions to the challenges faced by Global South countries.
NØEnergy research conducted in collaboration with LICs and US-based researchers is the most likely toresult in policy-related or news uptake. A small group of just over 250 USA+LIC co-publications producedby far the largest number of mentions in both types of documents (20% policy-related; 10% news). It is
worth noting that this group of publications also scored highly for collaborative diversity and South focus in
Figure 31. Publications involving researchers from LICs and EU-27 countries make up the next mostmentioned group. For these EU+LIC collaborations, which account for 700 articles, the figures are 12% forpolicy-related documents and 4% for news. Almost 650 publications are LMIC+LIC collaborations, of which
9% were referenced in policy-related documents and 3% in news coverage. LIC+UMIC, US+UMIC andUS+LMIC collaborations also rank above or well above the overall NØEnergy average for mentions inpolicy-related and news articles (2.5% and 1.1%, respectively). Collaborations between different groups of
Global South countries and China were mentioned less, but the findings are potentially limited by thebiases of the altmetrics databases.

Figure 64
Policy-related and news uptake of NØEnergy North---South collaborations, 2011---2020. Bubble size represents overall
output volume. LIC: Low-Income Country. LMIC: Low-Middle-Income Country. UMIC: Upper-Middle-Income
Country.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

108Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Source: Scopus, PlumX and Overton

These findings on North---South collaborations indicate a highlevel of uptake of NØEnergy research in the policymaking andnews sectors considered here. Nevertheless, it should be notedthat these publications amount to a very small fraction of all
research in this field (less than 5% overall for the groups
presented above; noting that they exclude HIC-South
collaborations).
The 25 countries where NØEnergy publications receive thehighest numbers of mentions in policy-related documents areshown in Figure 65. Here again, biases in current altmetrics
records are expected to favor citations from English-speaking
organizations and European countries.

“Investment from the Global South
will … be integral in driving climate
adaptation in Africa. However, thiswill have to go hand in hand with
policy reforms that provide an
enabling environment for clean
energy financing and investment.
This can look like having proper
carbon policies in place thatreward companies that reduce
their carbon footprint and impose
carbon taxes on those that emit
the most.”

Between 2011 and 2020, the highest proportion of uptake inpolicy-related reports (10%) was associated with the 17,500
NØEnergy publications produced by Dutch researchers.
Switzerland saw the highest uptake of its NØEnergy
publications in the news (just under 3.5%; while 6% of 16,000
articles were cited in policy-related literature), followed by the
Netherlands (3%). Austria, Belgium, Finland and Sweden, eachof which produced moderate volumes of publications (9,000--19,000), also achieved high levels of uptake (7% or more cited inpolicy-related literature and 3% or more in news articles). As
expected, US and UK publications, backed by highly productive
scientific sectors, also record high levels of uptake. Of the
Kariuki Ngari, Managing Director & CEO,
United Kingdom’s 60,000 NØEnergy publications, 7% garneredStandard Chartered Bank Kenya
mentions in policy-related documents and 3% in news reports.
Of the United States’ 190,000 publications, 4% are mentioned
in policy-related documents and 3% in the news. The absenceof China, South Korea and Japan from top rankings is potentially related to biases in the altmetrics
databases.
Some countries, including the Philippines, Greece, Sri Lanka and Cyprus, scored below average for news
mentions of NØEnergy publications but above average for policy-related documents. The Philippines, inparticular, has a very high proportion of NØEnergy publications cited in policy-related reports (6% of
almost 1,500 publications). It is not clear whether this performance is a result of the nature of publicationsin terms of policy relevance or the features of the Overton coverage itself.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

109Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

Figure 65
Policy-related and news uptake of NØEnergy research from countries with the most policy-related uptake, 2011---2020.
Bubble size represents overall country output volume.
Source: Scopus, PlumX and Overton“This process of getting research into a format where it’s foremost in the policy
discussions in a much more integrated way is extremely important. It has reallychanged the ability of people to talk about whether we’re on the road to 1.5
degrees or not, or to understand how to be on that road and what the important
technologies are in support of that.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability, University of
Maryland at College Park

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

110Section 1 | How much policy and media attention does NØEnergy research receive?

The top 10 largest topic clusters, with 1,500 publications or more, in terms of uptake in policy-related
documents are presented in Figure 66. The topics Air Pollution | Particulate Matter | Air Pollutants, Water
Resources | Water Management | Water and Energy | Economics | Electricity dominate policy-related
reports, with mentions of 19%---20% of all articles. These topics saw uptake in the news of 6%, 5% and 4%of publications, respectively. In Life Cycle | Sustainability | Sustainable Development, 14% of 3,000
publications were mentioned in policy-related literature, and 14% of 10,000 publications in Bioenergy |Biomass | Biofuels got a mention. Finally, the topic with the second highest score for news uptake, Model |Climate Models | Rainfall, scored the lowest for policy-related mentions. Out of 4,500 publications on this
topic, only 5% were mentioned in news articles compared with 9% in policy-related material.
It is worth noting that highly cited topic clusters in policy-related documents differ considerably from thosewith the largest output (see Section 1.1). The full realization of a NØEnergy agenda is therefore likely tobenefit from increased efforts and investments in those topics highlighted in Figure 66 with the greatest
potential for producing societal outcomes.

Figure 66
Policy-related and news uptake of NØEnergy publications from selected topic clusters, 2011---2020. Bubble size
represents overall topic cluster output volume.
Source: Scopus, PlumX and Overton

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

111Section 2

Interviews with key opinion
formers

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research112Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Pablo Arboleya

Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, Universidad
de Oviedo, Spain
Holder of the Smart Cities Chair at Universidad de Oviedo
Co-founder of LEMUR Research group
Co-founder of Plexigrid

Q: How would you describe the role of research & innovation (R&I) in enabling a clean energy
transition?
PA: Crucial! On the one hand, in the development of core technologies, such as those based on energy
storage or renewable energy production, basic and applied research are fundamental. On the other hand,
we must be able to integrate these new technologies into the energy system, which is a very complex
system with a high degree of interdependence between the parts and agents that compose it. Developing
engineering solutions that enable this coordinated integration is critical when it comes to achieving achange in the energy paradigm. In this sense, both types of research must be balanced, because fallingbehind in one of them would cause a bottleneck in the change of energy model. Given that large energy
corporations are present in the integration phase, it is also necessary to promote and establish strong
cooperative links between research organizations and these corporations so that research does not remainin the academic sphere but is transferred smoothly to the industrial sector.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have emerged in your region/domain over thelast 10 years and that you feel have had real impact on a clean energy transition?
PA: In Europe, the last 10 years have seen the take-off of installed renewable energy in the form of large
wind and photovoltaic farms connected to high-voltage transmission and distribution systems. This has
made it possible for Europe to increase efficiency and reduce energy dependence. Today, and after adecade of unstoppable growth, no one doubts the advantages or the role of this type of generation system.
However, the current challenge is to be able to bring these technologies closer to the end consumer, andthis entails their massive installation in low-voltage grids. The European Union, in its Clean Energy for all
Europeans 37 package published in 2019, has issued clear directives in this regard that will set a similarly
clear direction for the next decade. The guidelines mark electrification as a tool for the decarbonization of
the energy system and above all the empowerment and protagonism of the end consumer, given that
homes and private transport account for a very high percentage of CO2 emissions. In order to follow theseguidelines, it will be necessary to integrate all core technologies into the electricity distribution networks ona massive scale, and this is the challenge that has begun in the last decade and will intensify even more in
the period up to 2030.

37 See https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-strategy/clean-energy-all-europeans_en

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

113Section 2 | Prof. Pablo Arboleya

Q: What value do data, such as contained in this report, provide for policymakers, institutional leaders
and the research community, and why? Can you identify any other data that would be helpful?
PA: Data such as those presented in this report are of vital importance for analyzing the impact of energy
regulatory policies. We cannot forget that there is a very strong correlation between the change in theenergy model and research data on enabling technologies. In this sense, reports such as this one can beused as a barometer to measure the impact of regulation. It would be very important to have data thatcomplement those presented in this report in order to evaluate not only publications but also the transfer
of knowledge between academic institutions and industry.
Q: What information in this report is most insightful and useful to you, and why?
PA: The part where the levels of research from basic research to applied technologies are evaluated is very
interesting. It is of great value in determining the level of maturity of the technologies. In the case of
research carried out, for example, in electrical energy transport and distribution systems, this is practically
100% based on applied technology, while in other cases such as energy accumulation systems in electric
batteries, the bulk of the research is applied research. The evolution of these percentage levels over time isa very strong indicator of the degree of maturity of the technology. The part where the impact of theevolution of corporates on NØEnergy research is evaluated is also extremely interesting, as this is anindicator of whether industry and academia are aligned in terms of the lines of research to be promoted.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
PA: Technological development is fundamental. Reducing the costs of energy storage systems is critical tothe electrification of systems, as storage systems will provide the necessary flexibility to the energy system
to be able to massively integrate renewable generation. I believe this message is clear, and it is also clear
from the conclusions of this report. However, one issue that concerns me greatly is technologicalintegration in the energy system. In order to achieve this integration with guarantees, it is also necessary toboost the digitalization of the energy system. Digitalization is not a core technology in itself, but it is anextremely important enabling technology that includes the deployment of sensors, communications
systems, the use of artificial intelligence and the ability to manage large volumes of data through big datatechnologies.
Q: What in the report did you find inspiring, insightful or useful? Did it fill a gap?
PA: This report is useful not only for high-level regulatory authorities but also for researchers connected to
the fields studied in it. The strategy in selecting the evolution of a particular line of research is ofparamount importance. In many cases, researchers in the energy field are driven by personal passions thatmake us inclined toward the study of one technology or another: the evolution of a line of research at theindividual or group level is not always decided by objective criteria. Reports such as this one enable datadriven decisions to be made and also enable researchers to orient and align their research with common
interests.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

114Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Franklin CarreroMartínez

Senior Director, Global Sustainability and Development & Science andTechnology for Sustainability, Policy and Global Affairs Division,
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, UnitedStates

Q: How would you describe the role of R&I in enabling a clean energy transition?
FCM: R&I are critical in advancing clean energy transitions. The National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) consensus report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States
Energy System (2021), showed that the United States leads the world in research investments in clean
energy and in the development of a number of future technologies that are likely to play a significant rolein achieving deep decarbonization. 38 However, the United States also currently struggles to leverage its
leadership in clean energy R&I into leadership in clean energy markets and supply chains. If the UnitedStates can maintain its leadership in the discovery, invention and development of innovative clean energy
technologies and leverage its strengths in innovation to create a vibrant clean energy infrastructure, thenR&I will serve as a basis for a thriving economy.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have emerged in your region/domain over thelast 10 years that you feel have had real impact on a clean energy transition?
FCM: The widespread destruction in California, Houston, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands due toextreme events has increased the focus on the potential role of sustainable energy deployment. At NASEM,
the key component of our Science and Technology for Sustainability Program is the Roundtable on Scienceand Technology for Sustainability. The Roundtable provides a high-level forum for sharing views,
information and analysis related to harnessing science and technology for sustainability. In 2017---2018, it
hosted two workshops focused on clean energy transitions, one of which examined deploying sustainableenergy during transition and the implications surrounding recovery, renewal and rebuilding. 39 This
workshop examined how cities, regions and nations are building renewable energy into their longer-termplanning.
The 2021 NASEM report on accelerating decarbonization also investigated how the United States could best
decarbonize its transportation, electricity, building and industrial sectors. To help policymakers, businesses,
communities and the public better understand what a net zero transition would mean for the UnitedStates, the NASEM report identified the key technological and socioeconomic goals that must be achieved
to put the United States on the path to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It presented a policy

38 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). Accelerating decarbonization of the U.S. energy system. The National Academies Press.

https://doi.org/10.17226/25932

39 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). Deploying sustainable energy during transitions: Implications of recovery, renewal, andrebuilding: Proceedings of a workshop-----in brief. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25175

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

115Section 2 | Prof. Franklin Carrero-Martínez

blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021---2030) of this 30-year effort,
including ways to support the communities that will be most impacted by the transition.
As a further initiative, in April 2021, NASEM, in partnership with the Nobel Foundation, Potsdam Institutefor Climate Impact Research and the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) / Beijer Institute, hosted the firstever Nobel Prize Summit. The Summit gathered a powerful network of Nobel Laureates, together withworld-leading scientists, business leaders, writers, politicians, artists and young people, to discuss some of
the most pressing existential challenges faced by humanity, such as biodiversity loss, climate change,
inequality and rapid societal transformation due to emerging and converging technologies.
Q: What value do data, such as contained in Elsevier’s NØEnergy research report, provide forpolicymakers, institutional leaders and the research community, and why? Can you identify any otherdata that would be helpful?
FCM: Research on complex, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary issues central to achieving the SDGs
increasingly utilizes large data sets to accelerate the generation of knowledge. Understanding theimplications of synergies and trade-offs among the goals would require continued monitoring andresearch to develop better data-driven tools and services for policymakers, institutional leaders and theresearch community.
The Sustainability Roundtable has been discussing key challenges and opportunities related to increasingawareness of the SDGs in the United States and globally. In July 2021, Ann Gabriel, Senior Vice President
for Global Strategic Networks at Elsevier, spoke to the Roundtable on Analytical Perspectives on SDG
Research in the United States and noted that increased awareness of the SDGs informs issues of nationaland regional competitiveness. Elsevier’s mapping activity on the landscape of sustainability science, withthe focus on SDG 7 on Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 13 on Climate Action, has been relevant forRoundtable activities.
I also appreciate the comprehensive assessment of clean energy transitions in this report. Measures ofassessment and evaluation across research can enhance our ability to influence areas of investment andoutcomes. Because the Roundtable focuses on sustainability challenges from local to global scales, andbecause cities are increasingly driving new policies, an assessment for large or medium-sized cities would
be beneficial for developing collaborative actions at the local and global levels.
Q: What information in this report is most insightful and useful to you, and why?
FCM: While all of the assessments and evaluations in this report are highly relevant and important to theRoundtable, the sections on international collaboration, corporate activities on net zero, and Global Southparticipation and South---South collaborations are critical in conducting sustainability activities at the
National Academies. The Nobel Prize Summit emphasized issues relating to climate change and increased
global inequality, and this report’s assessment on the Global South is essential for the scientific community
by showing that only a small proportion of NØEnergy research is conducted there. There is a need forcoodinated actions.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
FCM: As noted in the 2021 NASEM decarbonization report, achieving net zero carbon emissions in the
United States by 2050 is feasible and would not only help address climate change but also build a morecompetitive economy, increase high-quality jobs and help address social injustice in the energy system.
There’s a need for immediate action and proactive innovation, as well as for a portfolio of near-term
policies, to ensure equitable access to benefits generated as a result of this transition, mitigate harms to

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

116Section 2 | Prof. Franklin Carrero-Martínez

vulnerable populations, engage public participation in decision-making and revitalize the US
manufacturing sector. To guide policymakers through the transition, in the NASEM decarbonization report
we laid out nine technological and socioeconomic goals to reach by 2030: (1) producing carbon-freeelectricity; (2) electrifying energy services in transportation, buildings and industry; (3) investing in energy
efficiency and productivity; (4) planning, permitting and building critical infrastructure; (5) expanding theinnovation toolkit; (6) strengthening the US economy; (7) promoting equity and inclusion; (8) supporting
communities, businesses and workers; and (9) maximizing cost-effectiveness. The NASEM decarbonization
report also emphasizes the need for investing in educational programs for a clean energy workforce.
Elsewhere, the Sustainability Roundtable has been focusing on the importance of attracting the younger
generation because young people need to be engaged in seeing these fields as ways to solve the world’s
problems. A participant at the Nobel Prize Summit urged that scientists must be more thoughtful aboutdata and focus on going from ‘‘big data’’ to ‘‘better data’’ and engaging community members as coproducers of research. And there is also a need to improve scholarly communications by translating science
into policymaking.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

117Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Leon Clarke

Acting Director and Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability
at University of Maryland at College Park, United States

Q: How would you describe the role of R&I in enabling a clean energy transition?
LC: Good strategies for a clean energy transition need to be based on the best science and the best analysis.
If you’re not following what the science tells us, what the analysis tells us, what the best strategies tell us,
you’re going to end up on a path that doesn’t make as much sense, and you take a lot more risk when you
do that. The role of research is to articulate what matters, what doesn’t matter, and to find strong
strategies, good openings and potential pitfalls that you need to be aware of as you move forward. So tome, R&I are critical for enabling good progress on the clean energy transition.
Q: You mention risk. Could you expand on that point?
LC: The clean energy transition requires thinking about two things. One of these is which avenues aregoing to be most successful. What are going to be the investments you want to make, the policies you wantto put in place that are going to have the most bang for your buck and would have the biggest effect? And
you need research to articulate what those innovative technologies are or which innovative policies work.
The second thing, because this is all very uncertain, is to ensure you’re not making investments that aregoing to lock you in to pathways that might not be consistent with a clean energy transition or that will
make it difficult for you to follow it. An obvious example is investing in fossil fuel infrastructure.
Understanding from research whether you’re going to be investing in technologies that may not be on thelong-term path or if you’re putting in place policies that might get you off that path is really important.
You can think about it from a technology perspective, for instance. Many questions surround the role of thevarious types of fuels to be used in cars and trucks, and buildings and industry-----is it electricity, orhydrogen, or maybe biofuels? As people navigate investing in different infrastructure and putting policies
in place to support their choices, they want to have confidence that they’re following pathways that aren’t
going to lock them into one technology, when in fact another may end up being the better solution in thelong run. For example, current thinking is that electricity rather than hydrogen will be the way to go forlight-duty vehicles. But a country may find that hydrogen makes more sense in their circumstances.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have emerged in either your region or in yoursubject domain over the last 10 years that you feel have had a real impact on a clean energy transition?
LC: The evolution of batteries, and of solar cells in particular, has been transformative. We wouldn’t beconsidering the types of mitigation actions that countries are considering today, for over the next 10 years,
if we hadn’t seen those sorts of advances, to the point where photovoltaic cells are frequently competitive
with or even cheaper than, say, coal generation. And the innovation in electric cars moved much more
quickly than most people anticipated a decade ago. Those developments have really changed the way
people see the landscape.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

118Section 2 | Prof. Leon Clarke

Another innovation has been the ‘‘all of society’’ approach to mitigation. In the United States over the last
four years, what we’ve seen is states, cities and businesses all taking action. With the US Climate Alliance,around half the states have committed to the goals of the Paris Accord, in a bottom-up / ‘‘all of society’’approach. And it’s not just in the United States: you’re seeing it increasingly around the world. That’s beena really big change in how we’re thinking about moving forward.
On the climate policy research side, over the last decade we’ve really shifted in our understanding of what itmeans to have these deep decarbonization goals and to have the types of energy transitions we need toreduce emissions and give ourselves the best chance to keep warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. Looking
back, a number of integrated assessment modeling teams worked in this area, and they were often
coordinating among themselves. But that information was not always coordinated and packaged in waysthat were as easily accessible for international discussions. Now, you see products like the UN Emissions
Gap Report 40 examining how far off we are from being on a 1.5-degree pathway, you see the IPCC reportcoming out, 41 you see Climate Action Tracker 42 and other groups who are trying to track progress, andthey’re all building off of this really strong set of research, looking at long-term pathways to limit
temperature increase.
This process of getting research into a format where it’s foremost in the policy discussions in a much more
integrated way is extremely important. It has really changed the ability of people to talk about whether
we’re on the road to 1.5 degrees or not, or to understand how to be on that road and what the important
technologies are in support of that. That’s been a really big innovation as well.
Q: What value do data, such as those contained in this report or others, provide for policymakers,
institutional leaders and the research community. Can you identify any other data that would be
helpful?
LC: Data are the foundation of good strategy. If you don’t know where you are and what’s going on, you
can’t develop a good strategy. And that can be the simplest of elements, such as GHG accounting. And it
also includes understanding where technology is and how much technology is moving forward, what
policies have been used and how effective they are, which are the winners or losers. All of that is absolutely
critical for making progress on a clean energy transition.
Consider this in the context of the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, which is coming up in a coupleof years. This is an effort to understand where we are on climate and what we need to do going forward. In
essence it’s three questions: (1) where are we, (2) where do we need to go, and (3) how do we get there?
They are all going to be heavily data driven on all of the sorts of issues I just mentioned: what are theemissions, where are the technologies, what’s being deployed, what are the costs of technologies? All of
that’s going to be really important.
We’re getting an increasing amount of hard data on where we are and where we need to go. But there
remains a really large gap in this context on the social science side. So we know we’re increasingly getting agood feel for assessing progress on, for instance, renewables-----how much solar has been deployed, howmuch has been invested, what the emissions are from different countries, what the emissions are fromdifferent sectors. We don’t have it down perfectly, but we’re getting more and more of that information,
and we know how those things need to change over time.
But many other issues are relevant to success. What’s the public perception? What are some of the vested
interests that may be influencing how policies are moving forward for our institutions and countries’
structure? To be able to move forward on climate policy, what are the ways in which climate policy’s
interaction with other priorities, such as energy security, are influencing its ability to go forward? These
40 See https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2020
41 See https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/
42 See https://climateactiontracker.org

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

119Section 2 | Prof. Leon Clarke

societal aspects of mitigation aren’t as clear as they need to be. It’s very difficult because it’s not necessarily
quantitative information, but it’s essential for understanding how we’re actually going to move forward on
climate. It’s a really important research gap, and one that I’m hoping the literature will begin to fill going
forward.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
LC: What’s going to be critical is understanding these political, economic, capacity, institutional andbehavioral issues that I just mentioned-----getting a handle on them and navigating it all.
We also need to continue to look at which policies are proving effective and why, and to find ways to makesure that everyone knows about them. For example, some cities have been successful in getting theirelectric vehicle charging infrastructure in place, in ways that other cities have not. We can learn from those
sorts of lessons. A lot of research is also needed on the implementation side: what’s been successful andwhat has not, and what does that tell us for policymaking or investing going forward?
Q: What information in the report do you think is most insightful and useful to you, and why?
LC: I was interested in the notion of where research is being done. A lot of the discussions and a lot of theresearch has been dominated by the countries with the strongest research capacity. But to address climatechange we need everyone involved, and one of the biggest issues that we face consistently is ensuring that
all countries have the capacity they need to make progress; where is the research being produced, who’s
producing the research? That’s extremely useful and, frankly, it confirms a lot of what we think. Outside of
the big players, how much do the other players really have in terms of capacity to be able to makecommitments and to take action on climate and an energy transition? This report doesn’t solve that, but
it’s another lens that highlights the importance of ensuring that this research capacity is really broad based.
The capacity to make progress seems too often to be concentrated in particular places. That’s a challenge
we’re all facing, and the report highlights that.
Q: Is there anything else you want to highlight from the report that you found insightful or useful?
LC: When we’re talking about getting to net zero, net zero energy systems or net zero emissions, and thennet zero economy, we’re talking about something that is incredibly broad based. We’ve known in the
mitigation space and the research space for years that there’s no silver bullet technology. You can’t use
solar cells to help airplanes travel, and many countries may not have a lot of sun, so they need othersources of energy. Buildings, industry, transportation, electricity, refining-----all these different sectors havea whole bunch of different elements to them, and we have a whole bunch of different countries. So there’s
no silver bullet technology.
But when you’re talking about net zero it really goes much deeper than that. There’s no silver bullet
technology, there’s no silver bullet sector, there’s no silver bullet country, there’s no silver bullet policy,
there’s no silver bullet actor. You need to not just have federal governments or national governments
engaged, you need to have state or provincial governments and cities, and civil society, businesses.
What’s interesting to me about this is that, when we think about net zero, the scope of what’s relevant froma research perspective is enormous. It encompasses so much of society that it really makes it hard to think
about how to scope that down, because everything that you’ve got, you have to get down to zero. Thatmeans that nothing gets left on the table. It calls for a very broad perspective on what your research is, andit was interesting to see this report grapple with that and try to pull something together that’s trying torepresent the scope of what’s really needed.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research120Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Dabo Guan

Distinguished Professor of Climate Change Economics at the
Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, China
Chair at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management,
University College London, United Kingdom

Q: How would you describe the role of R&D in enabling a clean energy transition?
DG: R&D are crucial to the clean energy transition, although real innovation in science and technology at
the R&D stage usually takes place 10---20 years before any commercial application can happen. It’s R&D on
clean production and sustainable consumption that will determine how we address global climate change,irrespective of any technological innovation or economic mechanisms.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have emerged in your region/domain/area ofspecialism over the last 10 years that you feel have had real impact on a clean energy transition?
DG: This report shows that China contributes to a significant proportion of publications on the clean
energy transition and has become a leading powerhouse on clean energy research and technologicalinnovations. This is to do with systematic policy implementations and huge funding investment in thisfield over a period of time. This is not going to stop. The transition to clean energy will increasingly be seen
as a key area of productivity for China.
Q: What information in this report is most insightful and useful to you, and why?
DG: In my view, the most impressive finding from the report is the small but growing participation of the
Global South in the clean energy transition. In the past, most climate change-related work done in the
Global South was around climate adaptation. They had only a small voice when it came to mitigation and,
consequently, to global climate negotiations. This was partially due to a lack of research being done inthose regions. Global climate change mitigation is very much in the hands of the Global South countries,
however. Apart from the major emitters such as China and India, other developing countries in South Asia
and Africa have grown their economies and emissions dramatically over the past 10 years. It’s vital for themto find a way to leapfrog to a transition to clean energy. Research on data and methods are the key
elements before any application studies.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
DG: There definitely needs to be more research on clean energy transitions in the countries of the Global
South. Taken individually, no single nation in the Global South contributes significantly to global
emissions, with the exceptions of China and India. However, collectively, they are among the top emittersin the world. Future climate change mitigation patterns show us transitioning from an emission-heavy
country focus to a more scattered focus. In future, more work will need to focus on international
cooperation among the Global South.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

121Section 2 | Prof. Dabo Guan

Q: What in the report did you find inspiring, insightful, useful? Did it fill a gap?
This was my first time seeing an R&D analysis on the subject of the clean energy transition, which is such amultidisciplinary research area. The role of the Global South was of particular importance and is worthy offurther analysis.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research122Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama

Chairman of the Institute, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
President, Platinum Society Network 43
The 28th President, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Q: How would you describe the role of R&I in enabling a clean energy transition?
HK: That’s a very broad question! The role ranges from basic research on materials, through thetechnological aspects, to user-friendly processes. For example, materials are very important: the magnets inwind turbines and vehicle powertrains often use rare earth materials such as dysprosium. The supply of thismaterial is limited, and more research is needed to replace it with other materials.
In Japan solar power is an efficient electricity source, yet uptake of renewables in general is only now
gathering pace. Some parts of society do not necessarily desire rapid change, and companies prefer toinitiate it themselves rather than being told to change. As researchers, we need to consider how wenavigate our societal systems to be able to effect change.
Q: How important is the work done by the Platinum Society Network-----which you founded to enable
this societal transition-----to corporates, regional governments and academia?
HK: Japanese regional areas are losing young people. It’s a common issue around the world-----urbanization
and regional depopulation. Renewable energy has the potential to revitalize local economies. It’s impossible
for Tokyo to be self-sufficient using renewable energy only. But it is possible for regional areas. Oncepeople in regional areas realize this, many become confident of their own sustainability. For example,
Mayor Takenaka of Kamishihoro, which is a town in the north of Japan, once said self-sufficiency was theiraim. I told him that not only could they be self-sufficient, but they could also sell 10 times the energy they
consume. He checked the numbers and came back to me saying, ‘‘You’re right! We’re already selfsufficient.’’
Q: What has had the most impact in the last 10 years in terms of the clean energy transition? In Japanor globally.
HK: Cost reduction has played a big part. In these 10 years, the average cost of electricity produced by solar
panels has reduced to a ninth or a tenth of what it was originally. If we were building a new powersystem-----using nuclear, fossil fuels or renewable energy sources-----10 years ago the most expensive option
would have been solar power, followed by wind power. Now, though, solar power is the cheapest. After the
Fukushima disaster, the cost of nuclear increased, too. For 2021, the IEA estimates that 70% of global
investment in building new power systems will be for renewable energy sources. 44 Even with our present

43 See https://www.platinum-network.jp/en/

44 See https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2021/executive-summary

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research123Section 2 | Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama

technology, we can increase renewable energy use. But global warming is much more critical than we
expected 30 years ago, so we need to accelerate our progress.
Q: The report looks at the research outputs around net zero and clean energy technologies. Whatvalue does this type of data provide for you as well as for policymakers and the wider researchcommunity?
HK: Looking at these data, I’m not surprised by China’s research volume. In a sense, they have what might
be an advantage: they have to increase the country’s power supply and electricity production, andrenewables are the cheapest option. One of the global leaders in photovoltaics research, and winner of theJapan Prize in 2021, is Martin Green (Scientia Professor, UNSW, Australia 45). His team made key
achievements, increasing the power conversion efficiency in silicon photovoltaics as well as integratingthem into practical devices. Many of his post-docs returned to China and founded companies. 46 Thanks toexcellent technology and an ability to mass produce, China is in a strong position in photovoltaics and ismaking solar power a key renewable energy source globally.
Of course, being able to see which countries are excelling in certain fields is good to know. But there are somany subcategories within renewable energy and net zero technologies, so the details are also important.
I’d like to see more detailed data, down to the article level!
Q: You’ve already mentioned what’s important to accelerate the clean energy transition. What, in youropinion, will be the most important thing in the next 10 years?
HK: Efficiency remains important. If you think about the cost of solar panels, the most expensive part is not
the active layer (which produces electricity) but the surrounding frame, for example, or the glass panel thatcovers the active layer, or the steel that supports the panel. In short, the installation materials are very
costly. So, if the energy efficiency doubles, you get double the power per installation, halving costs.
In Japan, we need to think about how we mount these panels on different types of buildings (and therefore
roofs). This requires planning and design, which in turn requires human resources. Implementing AI forthese kinds of processes would speed things up, I think. This also links back to societal issues. It doesn’t
matter if we develop an amazing solar panel if we get no uptake from society more broadly.
Q: The Tokyo Olympics was the first-ever ‘‘zero-emission Games’’. As the Chair of the Tokyo Olympics
Sustainability Committee, how do you see the net zero legacy of these Games?
HK: With the Olympic Games, we created a showcase for a sustainable zero-emissions society, and we’verelayed this to the Paris Games. I’m sure they will do even more. Everything was powered by renewableenergy at the Tokyo Olympics. The Olympic flame burned hydrogen for the first time ever, and thehydrogen was produced in Fukushima Prefecture (via the electrolysis of water using solar power). Electricvehicles were used for transportation during the Games. I guess the most talked-about aspect was theurban mining we did for the Olympic medals. All medals were created using recycled metals from usedsmall electronic devices including smartphones. It showed that we can replace traditional mining withurban mining. The medal project symbolized the possibility of a circular economy.

45 See http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/1107/c90000-9516132.html

46 See https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-09-19/solar-panels-why-australia-stopped-making-them-china/100466342

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research124Section 2 | Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama

Q: In your 2018 book, New Vision 2050, you envisioned moving toward teleworking. Given that thishas now been enforced upon many of us due to the pandemic, how can this opportunity be leveraged
to facilitate more change-----for example, in energy usage?
HK: Again, the issue is how to speed things up, particularly in Japan. Japan is a good country-----people are
kind, and people are not so greedy. But they don’t want to move or change, because it’s good already-----it’scomfortable. This is what we are trying to challenge. This ‘‘good’’ that many people experience here may
not necessarily be sustainable.
To me, the most important way to address this is by having people interact. Right now, much of theknowledge is concentrated in Tokyo. Almost too much. So, we’re encouraging people from Tokyo to travel
to regional areas. Some people may even choose to relocate there, especially with remote-working
capabilities. This interaction then facilitates knowledge being shared and communicated more widely.
Regional area revitalization is key to solving social issues, including achieving net zero. The PlatinumSociety Network is making good progress-----but we’re still at early stages. It’s a vision for me, but I think it
will happen.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research125Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Joan MacNaughton

CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair, Climate Group (United Kingdom);
Non-Executive Director En+Group plc (Chair, Health, Safety andEnvironment Committee); and HAHL plc; Chair, International Advisory
Board, New Energy Coalition of Europe; Member of Advisory Boards
for Equans UK plc, the Grantham Institute (at LSE/Imperial College),
and the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (at the National
Renewable Energy Lab, United States)

Q: How important, in your view, is the role of R&D in the transition to clean energy?
JM: R&D are absolutely vital.
We’ve got a lot of the technologies that we need to get to net zero, but they’re not necessarily at the stage
that we need them to be to contribute effectively to the net zero transition. About half the technologies are
already maturing in the market, but the other half still need developing. The initial research phase is thestart of it all: it’s the genesis of everything. But then you need development and demonstration, and thendeployment.
All four of these phases must occur for the technologies to play their part in enabling us to get to net zerowith decent living standards for all. We’ve seen this in the cost reductions that have occurred over the last
decade or so. The figures are dramatic-----an over 80%---90% reduction in cost for solar or batteries-----andthis in turn means that deployment becomes more feasible and progress can accelerate. That’s animportant part of the next era of transition-----because we don’t have unlimited time.
We can also see clear evidence of a shift in the balance of effort in clean energy technologies infrastructure,compared to what you might call the polluting technologies. The IEA published a report earlier this yearthat showed that the growth in international patent families has been more than double for clean
technologies generally, compared with those for fossil fuel technologies. 47 That’s quite a shift. And in thelatest year for which they quote a figure, 2019, it’s probably not far short of three times the gross. We haveto bear in mind that it’s starting from a lower base, but it shows an important trend in the significance of
these technologies and the significance of R&D in them-----that is then feeding through to the register ofthe patents that have been applied for. The IEA report also noted that countries are tending to specialize ina family of technologies or a few families of technologies. That gives real depth for those families oftechnologies, but it also means that we’ve got to have international collaboration.
Q: How important is international collaboration in achieving a transition to clean energy by 2050?
JM: Countries will tend to specialize in areas that are important to them, or where they already have thebasis for expertise-----for example, if they’ve got a university or research institution that has strengths andhistory in a particular area. This does underscore the need for international collaboration though, because
otherwise gaps might not be addressed. It’s not enough that each country will bring to the table what it’squite good at, or experienced in, or willing to fund. We have to take a broader view and see where the gaps
are and how they can be filled.
47 IEA. (2021). Patents and the energy transition. https://www.iea.org/reports/patents-and-the-energy-transition

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research126Section 2 | Joan MacNaughton

One very good survey of this is the IEA annual report called Energy Technology Perspectives, 48 which looks
across the different technologies that are crucial for the energy transition and gives them a report card on
how well they’re developing and what more needs to be done. It’s a very good tool for gap analysis.
One mechanism that uses that to advantage is the Clean Energy Ministerial. 49 This is a group ofcountries-----originally about 20 of the biggest energy users, although now it’s grown beyond that, but it’s
still not huge-----and they come together once a year. They’re supported by a secretariat, and countries willraise an issue they think needs to be addressed and where leadership by an individual country or a group ofcountries working together can make progress.
One of the earliest initiatives of the Clean Energy Ministerial was called the 21st Century Power Partnership.
It was focused on getting to zero or very low carbon power generation and looked at things such as what
policies and incentives actually drive decarbonization of the power sector most effectively and what else
needs to happen in the power sector to enable that to happen, all while preserving security of supply andpromoting affordability and access to electricity, which is still a huge issue in the Global South. Out of thatgroup, others have emerged to include smart grids and the flexibility that sophisticated approaches to agrid can bring. This can be absolutely crucial in supporting significant penetration of a power grid byrenewables without risking instability, because most renewables tend to be intermittent.
One of the interesting features about the Clean Energy Ministerial, and I think a secret of its success, is that
not every member of the group has to agree to every initiative. It requires a core group to take leadershipand run the initiative. The object is to make sure that it’s not just one or two countries and that it is truly
global, but you don’t need everybody to sign up. You just need a few people with the will and who areprepared to resource it to make progress. And that’s a huge strength because that helps with pace, and oneof the challenges in the net zero transition is to get velocity into taking initiatives and making themhappen, and then getting the results to be able to apply them in the real world. It’s a great example of what
can happen when you collaborate internationally.
Analysis has shown that the costs of getting to net zero are far, far lower if there is international
collaboration than if each country goes down its own chosen path. The collaboration needs to be aroundpolicy coordination, deployment and research because some research issues are too big for an individual
country to resource. The classic example of that is nuclear fusion.
International collaboration is important for another reason: we’re not going to get to net zero unless wehave public buy-in. If the public in a country think that they are making strides in this area, perhaps making
sacrifices in spending, they’re not going to commit to that and support it if they think that other countries
are not pulling their weight. So international collaboration, whether on research or more broadly, is really
important for securing and sustaining public acceptance.
In a world where there are many, many forces pulling countries apart, collaboration on such a clear andobvious existential threat can help be a counterweight. Because when people work together, it’s much moredifficult to demonize everything else that other countries do, and it keeps the channels of communication
open.
Q: COP 26 is being held in the United Kingdom this year. What are your thoughts on the United
Kingdom’s position in relation to the clean energy transition and to international collaboration?
JM: In some respects our policy framework has been world leading. Our decision to set up the frameworkof rolling five-year carbon budgets has been a terrific innovation in policymaking. And it gives parliament a
48 See https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-technology-perspectives
49 See https://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research127Section 2 | Joan MacNaughton

much better handle on holding the government to account here, which I think doesn’t exist to the same
degree in other policy areas in this country.
There are some real challenges to meeting our targets for 2030 and beyond. There are also some very good
policies, such as the phase-out of sales of new internal combustion engines, and the hydrogen strategy.
But the evidence is that the strategies are not at the moment fully underpinned by the necessary plans. If
you look at the electric vehicle strategy, that’s terrific because it’s a very solid bit of regulation, and it’s senta signal to the car manufacturers that they are definitely responding to. However, without some work fromthe government on things like common standards, does somebody really want to go electric if they’ve got
to get a separate app on a separate account for different types of charger?
There’s been a huge amount of investment into charging stations and some companies are really stepping
up. But, again, is anybody looking at overall deployment and whether it’s going into all the right places? If
we’re going to meet the 2030 target of everyone who wants to buy a new vehicle being able to buy electricand be confident they can charge these vehicles, then there are some gaps in the policy. That said, theresearch side is doing excellent work on innovative automotive approaches, and there’s a wonderful facility
at Warwick University, the National Automotive Innovation Centre, that the government has supported andthat has really contributed to the things that need to happen for electric vehicles to become the car of
choice for the consumer.
Q: Why do corporates and academia need to collaborate in this sort of area?
JM: Academia brings some of the best blue-sky ideas. It doesn’t have a monopoly on them, as there’s somegreat work going on in companies, but the work done in companies is often based on some groundbreaking research from a few years before that came from academia. But one of the things that corporates
have, and that academia often doesn’t, is an understanding of what the challenges are in the market. And
so they can help academia to think about where the next priorities lie. They can shape the focus of theacademic work, and then they can help to get it through into the market.
But the clock is ticking, and the faster we can get meaningful collaboration between companies andacademia on problems that they’re both going to have to help solve, then the faster we will get thesolutions to reducing emissions. We need every hand to the pump, because a lot of this has taken off but
not as quickly as science suggests it needs to.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

128Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Dr. Chukwuka Monyei

Research Fellow in Energy Justice and Transitions (SPRU --- Science
Policy Research Unit), University of Sussex Business School, United
Kingdom

Q: How would you describe the role of R&I in enabling a clean energy transition?
CM: You can’t overemphasize it: it is very important for the clean energy transition. The only problem is thepolitical will. So, while R&I is important for achieving clean energy transition, political will in terms ofgovernment activities and, of course, support is equally critical.
The products of R&I are also very important. On its own, R&I is not enough to actually fast track humanity’s
progress in this transition.
Q: Can you tell me a bit more about that relationship between political will and R&I?
CM: If you look at the issue of electric vehicles, you discover that there’s a tipping point on price for
consumers. In terms of recharging electric vehicles, you have various standards-----Tesla has come up with
its own standards in terms of fast charging, Nissan has its own standard, etc.-----and this creates
disconnects in the system. What is needed is for governments in, for instance, the United States to comeup with a policy that ensures that if I have a Nissan Leaf, I can use a Tesla charging station and get thesame result irrespective of the make and model. Then I can access the available fast-charging stations.
What that does is accelerate adoption because I don’t have the added burden of identifying which charging
stations can give me the same utility. Across Europe, you have some harmony in terms of similarities andstandards, but you have a dissonance among the various players in markets such as the United States.
That’s just one aspect where political will is needed. In Africa-----for instance, Nigeria-----you also have a lot of
disconnect. Governments are aware of the utility benefits of, say, promoting renewable energies, but you
have disconnects among various government agencies in terms of policies. For instance, the Minister ofFinance might come up with taxes on, let’s say, imports of inputs related to renewable energy products,
and then you have another government agency promoting a subsidy for renewable energy products. Suchdisconnects could simply be resolved by all these agencies coming together to achieve harmony, but you
need the political will to actually start that process. So R&I is very important, but then you also need
government, for government support and political will, to be able to deploy innovations, much like what
you have in Germany.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have merged in your region or subject domain
over the last 10 years, and what do you feel had a real impact on a clean energy transition?
CM: I would say there are two big ones.
One is improved battery technology storage. You have radical improvements in the amount of energy we
can store by unit area. And that has also been met with a decrease in the cost of batteries, which was very

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research129Section 2 | Dr. Chukwuka Monyei

important, because budget plays a key role in the promotion of clean energy technologies, especially indeveloping countries like in Africa. A lot of people are adopting solar home systems, etc., first because of
the reduced cost of lithium-ion batteries, per kilowatt hour, but also because the density of what we canstore has been increasing. Over the last 10 years that’s one aspect of innovation that’s been important.
Another aspect increasing in significance in the Global North is the increasing handshake between thegovernment and society in promoting technology. This is a human-centered approach to driving clean
energy technology, so it’s not just a top-down approach-----now we have some coherence between
governments and people. Having that buy-in from society, from people, into government policies is very
important, because if you can achieve that buy-in now that means that people will be comfortable with theoutcomes of the projects.
Q: What value do data, such as contained in this report, provide for policymakers, institutional leaders
and the research community, and can you identify any other data that will be helpful?
CM: The research you’ve conducted, what you’ve been able to do, is an aggregate of what is scattered out
there. You’ve been able to bring it into one place and, in so doing, you have actually given us an idea,
especially policymakers, about the jobs of the future. The idea of net zero is actually not just about energy,
but also about the infrastructure needed to achieve that, and that’s what this particular report has been able
to identify. It allows people in government to think about how we can enable our workforce to play a criticalrole for the future, and identify aspects that will be critical for the success of achieving net zero. Areas suchas cyber security, IT networks, all the supporting infrastructure, not just energy itself but all the disciplines,
so that governments in different countries can begin to build up capacity in certain niche areas and be able
to lead research in those particular areas. I don’t think there’s any report on this scale, or one that’s beenable to highlight this, because this is massive.
Q: You highlighted this interesting point about future jobs. Can you say a bit more about what thoseother kinds of jobs would be in the future, either that we need to increase now or new ones that we
don’t really have?
CM: The fourth industrial revolution is going to rely heavily on the Internet, and this means that Internetenabled or Internet-related jobs are going to be critical for the future. We are looking for people versed in
cryptology, in hacking, in the cyber security space, in different roles that we are not even aware of.
This opens up another conflict, though: privacy and the ethics of the Internet of the future. How are wegoing to be able to balance issues of privacy, how much information should the government know? How
can we encrypt this information? How can it be used, without giving governments too much access to suchinformation, and what it can be used for and to what purposes...?
Your report highlights the obvious roles-----for instance, expertise in battery technology, chemical processengineering, IT (things like encryption, cryptology, like cyber security, blockchain technology)-----as well as
roles that we are not familiar with. It also provides the benchmark, a platform, to build upon, because as we
continue to grapple with new problems, we will begin to rethink new roles, and new expertise, and begin to
get creative so we can address the problems that will come up in the future.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
CM: We have to focus on humans because the big beneficiaries of the transition are definitely going to be
humans! Figure 22 in the report shows that there isn’t a very good connection between research in the coresciences and research in the humanities, in the arts and all those particular areas. That’s already exposing a
potential failure of the current trend, and if we continue with this current research trend, we’re definitely

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

130Section 2 | Dr. Chukwuka Monyei

going to have failure. There would be a lot of opposition to the outcomes because you won’t have a lot of
buy-in. So the majority of research should focus on having buy-in from people. Our research must be
human-centered. I think that’s a better way to put it: the clean energy transition-----in terms of the design of
how I want to achieve this net zero goal-----must be done with a lot of buy-in from humans. But then, too,
there needs to be a deliberate attempt by governments to provide education for people, as that’s
fundamental to having buy-in from the population. What’s happening, what’s this all about, what are thepotential benefits, what are the potential consequences, how does the government intend to mitigate this,what options are on the table, what will the government provide? If they know these things, then people areable to make informed decisions, as communities, as groups, as individuals, and this will encourage buy-into the clean energy transition.
Q: Is there anything else you want to highlight from the report that you found either insightful or
useful?
CM: The success of the clean energy transition will depend largely on buy-in from the Global South, andwe need a concerted effort by policymakers across the globe to ensure this. This is because the Global
South has the potential to negate any possible benefits that would be gained from achieving the objectivesof a clean energy transition to net zero emissions. As we make progress toward a clean energy transition to
net zero, we must have significant plans in place to ensure that the Global South is able to buy into thisparticular part. And that would depend largely on what has been offered to them in terms of capacity
development and, of course, in terms of knowledge transfer. These are very important aspects that must be
considered, otherwise the whole idea of the transition will be wasted. Because the projected increase inenergy usage is going to come from the Global South, having them buy-in early enough benefits our ability
to sustain the whole energy transition.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research131Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Kariuki Ngari
Managing Director & CEO
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya

Globally, nearly every nation has endorsed the Paris Agreement, setting net zero carbon emission targets tolimit global warming. Of those, 190 have solidified their support with formal approval. Africa has not beenleft behind. Over 90% of its countries have endorsed the Paris Agreement and committed to transitioning
to green energy within a relatively short time frame. Clean energy and agriculture are prioritized in over
70% of African Nationally Determined Contributions.
Although Africa produces less than 4% of global emissions, 50 it is the most-exposed region to the adverse
effects of climate change. We are already seeing disproportionate impacts related to a changing climate in
the continent. Madagascar is on the brink of experiencing the world’s first ‘‘climate change famine’’ after
going four years without rain. In 2018, devastating cyclones affected 3 million people in Mozambique,
Malawi and Zimbabwe. In Kenya, optimal and medium tea-growing conditions are predicted to shrink by
about 25% and 40% respectively by 2050. Furthermore, GDP exposure in African nations vulnerable toextreme climate patterns is estimated to hit USD 1.4 trillion in 2023.
On the other hand, the global commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 is growing, across governments,
businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society. However, COVID-19 is forcing many governments
and businesses in the African region to focus on immediate survival. In addition, with limited resource andbudget allocations, the majority of African countries are focused on improving productivity andaccelerating economic growth, further delaying the net zero transition.
Many African countries simply lack the incentive to adopt climate mitigation frameworks. It becomesdifficult for a country like Nigeria to prioritize adoption of clean energy when oil is a major incomegenerating source. It therefore becomes crucial for net zero champions to show how the adoption of clean
energy will contribute to local job creation or economic growth in the long term.
The operational and commercial costs also cannot be downplayed. Substantial investment is needed toadopt alternative energy solutions, be it shifting from electrical power to hydropower or shifting from fossil
fuel.
This is also true for players in the private sector. Standard Chartered’s 2020 Zeronomics report 51 shows 85%
of companies require medium or high levels of investment to transition to net zero, rising to 91% ofcarbon-intensive companies. On the investor side, emerging markets remain a blind spot for many
investment funds, and transition finance is deemed too risky by many, despite the billions of dollars nowaligned with environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.
50 See https://unfccc.int/files/press/backgrounders/application/pdf/factsheet_africa.pdf
51 See https://www.sc.com/en/insights/zeronomics/

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research132Section 2 | Kariuki Ngari

Investment from the Global South will therefore be integral in driving climate adaptation in Africa.
However, this will have to go hand in hand with policy reforms that provide an enabling environment forclean energy financing and investment. This can look like having proper carbon policies in place thatreward companies that reduce their carbon footprint and impose carbon taxes on those that emit the most.
The financial sector could also help by providing incentives in the form of margin discounts on loans andbonds linked to the net zero transition. As mentioned, financing is a key impediment and proper financial
solutions will help individuals and companies adopt sustainable solutions, technologies and infrastructure.
Africa has a vast number of investment opportunities aligned to clean energy. The biggest investment
opportunities can be found in renewable energy projects in emerging markets, where growing demand for
new sources of reliable, clean and affordable electricity is greatest. 52 With an estimated USD 4.226 trillion
investment needed in the generation and transmission of electricity in all emerging markets by 2030, theprivate sector should explore this and other clean energy investment opportunities.
African countries should also be encouraged to adopt technology to support the transition. Technology canbe a key enabler as it provides an opportunity for hard-to-abate sectors to cut their carbon emissions
through processes such as carbon capture and storage. Data and technology can also be applied inmonitoring the impacts of climate change, accelerating the use of renewables and directing capital due tosmarter ESG reporting, ratings and investments. This will have both short-term and long-term benefits
and will also reduce transition costs.
Standard Chartered acknowledges climate change as one of the greatest challenges facing the world today,
given its widespread and proven impact on the physical environment and human health and its potential to
adversely impact economic growth. This gives us the opportunity to support the net zero transition by
engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including clients, governments, civil society and academics on
the impact of climate change and how these can be mitigated. Successful partnerships between financeinstitutions, development banks, international financial institutions and governments to finance both
mitigation and adaptation needs will be critical, particularly in developing countries. COVID-19 recovery
plans also offer the opportunity to build back greener and cleaner. Decision-makers must now walk thetalk.

52 See https://av.sc.com/corp-en/content/docs/Standard-Chartered-Opportunity-2030.pdf

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research133Section 2 | Interviews with key opinion formers

Prof. Yutao Wang

Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Fudan University, China

Q: How would you describe the role of R&I in enabling a clean energy transition?
YW: R&I are the most important drivers of the clean energy transition. Research on the current state of thistransition adds to and strengthens public understanding and awareness of the climate crisis and thereby
accelerates the public response to the situation. R&I output also provides a variety of ways to deal with theclimate crisis by presenting clean energy technologies based on research from many regions and fields.
Decision-makers can select technologies that suit their needs from among many options. The emergenceof the clean energy transition to address climate and environmental issues is advancing the overall
research, updating the scope and breadth of research, and promoting timely, global and socially relevant
discussions and debates on clean energy technology.
Q: What initiatives, policy developments or discoveries have emerged in your region/domain over thelast 10 years that you feel have had real impact on a clean energy transition?
YW: In China, the most highly relevant policy to the topic of net zero is the carbon-neutral policy proposedin 2020. China commits to scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting morevigorous policies and measures. It aims to have CO2 emissions peak by 2030 and to achieve carbon
neutrality by 2060. To achieve carbon neutrality, China has developed detailed energy transition plans andprovided substantial funding for research related to the energy transition. More and more research has
emerged to try to apply the outputs of previous research to real-life situations. The commitment to carbon
neutrality was only made a short time ago, but it’s already having a significant impact on the clean energy
transition. Everyone, from government to individuals, from the scientific community to industry, has risen
to the occasion and got involved in this massive initiative. From my perspective, our research group hasreceived quite a few consulting requests from traditionally high energy-consuming enterprises as they
formulate their own carbon neutrality roadmaps. Enterprises are keen to learn more about net zero R&I
and to seize the opportunity to integrate with the latest research outputs and national policies.
Q: What value do data, such as those in this report, provide for policymakers, institutional leaders andthe research community, and why? Can you identify any other data that would be helpful?
YW: The data contained in this report can help policymakers, institutional leaders and researchers makeinformed decisions in their respective fields and identify their positioning, challenges and opportunities.
They can clarify the hot spots in and prospects for current R&I for audiences and provide new research
directions. Policymakers and institutional leaders, for their part, can adjust the focus of program supportand make those adjustments promptly. All the data in the report will be useful to the audience. For
example, the academic---corporate collaboration data show that such collaborations have been increasing inclean energy research over the last 20 years, but the data on corporate publications show that their share in
Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research134Section 2 | Prof. Yutao Wang

the field has been declining since 2010. In short, corporates are publishing less, but they are collaborating
more with academia when they do so. Nonetheless, cooperation between corporates and academia is very
helpful for achieving net zero and making the research useful and practical.
Q: What information in this report is most insightful and useful to you, and why?
YW: To me, the most inspired part of this report is that related to adopting a systemic innovation approach
to increase support ‘‘for innovation across the innovation chain (research, development anddemonstration)’’. 53 Previous studies have focused on a link in the innovation chain, but any research in theenvironmental field needs to consider a systematic approach. A net zero plan, in particular, involves all
aspects of the system and needs to coordinate the interests of all parties. When research, technology
development and innovation are combined with policy and market design, targeted to the actual needs ofsociety and corporates, then innovative systems approaches can truly achieve net zero programs.
Q: Thinking about the clean energy transition, what R&I priorities do you think should be the focus in
the next 10 years?
YW: In the future, the clean energy transition needs to focus on two aspects. One is the development oftechnologies that are truly applicable and accessible. This is not just for a few developed countries but for
the wider world, so that different countries and regions can choose the appropriate clean energy
technology for their situation. Second, the time cost and implementation effect of these technologies
should be fully considered. At present, many countries have committed to carbon neutrality plans, but thetime frames for each country to reach carbon neutrality will differ. Therefore, the time costs andimplementation effects of R&I for new technologies are the important factors for a country or region toconsider in choosing this clean technology.
Q: What in the report did you find inspiring, insightful, useful? Did it fill a gap?
YW: I think the segment in the report about the Global South’s participation in clean energy research isvery insightful. We’ve rarely paid attention to these situations in the past. Researchers are more willing tofollow hot issues and hot areas because of easier access to data, more financial support, greater ease incollaborating and easier field surveys. This reminds us that we need to give more visibility to research on‘‘South international publications’’ and ‘‘South focus’’ topics and call on all researchers to pay more
attention to the Global South’s research.

53 As per the discussion related to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s Global Renewables Outlook report at the beginning of Section 1.11. To access thereport, see https://irena.org/publications/2020/Apr/Global-Renewables-Outlook-2020

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

135Section 3

Conclusion and future
outlook

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

136

Conclusion and future outlookNØEnergy is a broad, multifaceted and fast-growing area of research.
This report provides an overview of the evolution of the field over thelast two decades and a snapshot of the current research landscape. It
also indicates where future efforts could be directed.
This report presents data and analyses of clean energy research and innovation as a pathway to achieving
net zero. We analyzed scholarly output and patents to identify the trends in research underlying the field,
from both a geographic and a disciplinary perspective. The report examines the funding of NØEnergy
research, whether there is sufficient conceptual and collaborative diversity in the field, and the extent ofcollaboration between different countries and regions and between the Global North and South.
Considering the crucial importance of transforming research and innovation into deployable technologies,
we also focus on the transition from basic science to applied technology, the scale of academic---corporate
relations, the role of corporates in NØEnergy research, and the patents landscape. Finally, we investigate
the connections between research, policy and the wider media.
We believe the report makes a valuable contribution to discussions on the relevance of research andinnovation to achieving net zero. Our analysis of over 1.6 million publications and 800,000 patents inNØEnergy research identifies some positive signs and some points of concern. However, we see this reportas a beginning rather than an end-----a springboard for further discussions. Our analyses have generated anumber of additional questions that we believe warrant further exploration.

What constitutes NØEnergy research?
One of the first challenges we faced in this report was specifying the problem space: how can clean energy
research for net zero be defined? We started with the foundations of research associated with SDG 7 --Affordable and Clean Energy. While SDG 7 captures a very broad domain of research related to emissions,
it does not capture research on carbon removal, so we included part of the research associated with SDG 13--- Climate Action. The sheer diversity of research topics relevant to NØEnergy research is astonishing.
Going forward, there will be merit in further discussion of the extent of this domain, whether it should be
expanded and how.

Is NØEnergy research focused in the right areas?
Data show that research output on bioenergy and carbon capture and storage is fluctuating or declining,
yet these topics feature prominently in many national and intergovernmental pathways, including those of
the IPCC and IEA, to net zero by 2050. A deeper analysis of research trends in topic clusters allied to net
zero policy strategies could reveal further examples, which will help illuminate crucial gaps in current andfuture research programs developed to support policy. Many experts interviewed for the report mentioned
the comparative scarcity of NØEnergy-oriented social science and humanities research, and of crossdisciplinary exchanges between these areas and science- and engineering-based areas of the field.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research137Section 3 | Conclusion and future outlook

Are the big emitter countries and corporates fundingNØEnergy research proportionately?
Understanding of the funding landscape of NØEnergy
research, as presented in this report, is constrained by
how well researchers acknowledge their funding sourcesin publications. Obtaining data on the funding ofNØEnergy research at source opens the possibility ofanalyzing the contributions of countries and regions toclean energy research as a proportion of all funding, perhead of capita, per GDP or by emissions, among otherfactors. These comparators could serve to support moredetailed discussions about carbon equality and climate
justice. And while corporates may wish to keep the detailsof their funded NØEnergy research in-house forcompetitive purposes, transparency on the amount they
are spending would contribute to the debate about
equitable contribution to mitigating climate change.

Is there sufficient conceptual and collaborative diversity
within NØEnergy research to tackle the grand challenges
of climate change?
Our report suggests that NØEnergy research tends tofocus on a few disciplines (although these subfields maythemselves encompass a broad swathe of research topics),
which could limit its ability to produce the broadreaching societal outcomes needed to combat climatechange. While cross-disciplinarity in research is often
cited by research leaders and policymakers as animportant approach to tackle grand challenges, our data
indicate that there is room for improvement. In future
work, it would be relevant to consider how expertise insocial sciences and humanities could be integrated more
effectively with the physical or biological sciences toinform questions around behavioral changes or societal
transitions. Cross-disciplinarity is seldom fostered or
achieved at the level of whole funding agencies,
institutions, or countries and regions, so analyzing the
expansion of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
practices is arguably to be best conducted at the level ofindividual research programs. It is worthwhile repeating
here the need for a better understanding of thecontributions of NØEnergy-adjacent social science andhumanities.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research“We’ve known in the mitigation space
and the research space for years that
there’s no silver bullet technology. You
can’t use solar cells to help airplanes
travel, and many countries may nothave a lot of sun, so they need othersources of energy. Buildings, industry,transportation, electricity, refining—all
these different sectors have a wholebunch of different elements to them,and we have a whole bunch of different
countries. So there’s no silver bullet
technology.
“But when you’re talking about net
zero it really goes much deeper thanthat. There’s no silver bullet technology,
there’s no silver bullet sector, there’s nosilver bullet country, there’s no silver
bullet policy, there’s no silver bullet
actor. You need to not just have federal
governments or national governments
engaged, you need to have state orprovincial governments and cities, andcivil society, businesses.”
Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability at
University of Maryland at College Park

138

Section 3 | Conclusion and future outlook

Is there enough NØEnergy research in and for the Global South?
Our report reveals that while overall trends in international
collaboration, levels of participation by local researchers andresearch focused on regional issues are positive for the Global
South, these increases have been modest. This could make theimplementation of NØEnergy research outcomes problematic in
the future. Increasing the frequency of Global North---South
collaboration should be a priority for NØEnergy research policies.

Is the NØEnergy field sufficiently diverse?
Equality, diversity and inclusion are key to making impactfulprogress in the research and development of solutions that willaffect whole societies. How well clean energy research and its
associated evidence-based policy decisions address these areas
will surely affect the sustainable application of solutions tomeeting net zero targets. Investigating the equality, diversity andinclusion levels in NØEnergy research would be a useful area for
future analysis, mirroring funding already earmarked forinvestigation of these issues. 54 Going forward, we will examine theparticipation of women in NØEnergy research, both
geographically and by topic, based on methodologies developedin our recent gender report. 55

How effective are academic---corporate collaboration and corporate
research in NØEnergy?

“Analysis has shown that thecosts of getting to net zero are
far, far lower if there isinternational collaboration thanif each country goes down its
own chosen path. The
collaboration needs to be aroundpolicy coordination, deployment
and research because someresearch issues are too big for anindividual country to resource.”
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady
Jeffrey), Chair, Climate GroupNØEnergy research must transition successfully and rapidly to commercial, real-world applications if weare to benefit fully from its potential to tackle climate change and mitigate against its effects. This will
require the full engagement of corporates, as well as researchers and policymakers. However, we observe in
our analyses that the output from corporates has not retained the same level of activity as the researchoverall, and few of the largest corporate emitters produce any significant research in this area at all.
We also observe that while patents related to GHG emissions reduction are growing exponentially, othervital areas such as solar, wind, biomass energy, biofuels, energy from waste and energy efficiency are
increasing more modestly. Although patents are not representative of the entirety of industry’s activities,
our findings may indicate that more corporate involvement is needed in the development and deploymentof clean energy technologies in some of these areas.

How can interactions between NØEnergy research and policy be increased?
Alternative metrics are now helping us track the outcomes of research relevant to policymaking and media
coverage. In addition to looking at news mentions and social media data from PlumX, this report is the firstof its kind from Elsevier to incorporate Overton’s policy (or policy-related) citation data, which will also be
available in SciVal in late 2021. Our analysis indicates that only 2.5% of NØEnergy publications are cited inpolicy-related literature, which is lower than the estimated 3.2% average for all Scopus publications. Further
avenues of research could detail case studies of concrete achievements of NØEnergy research leading to
54 See https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-energy-research-community/
55 See https://www.elsevier.com/connect/gender-report

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

139Section 3 | Conclusion and future outlook

policy-driven social change. They might also identify features of certain programs or projects that facilitate
the policy-related uptake of research findings.

Which areas of NØEnergy research should we analyze in more depth?
Elsevier is planning a limited but focused follow-up analysis in a number of areas considered in this report.
We plan to look in more detail at electric vehicles, photovoltaics, energy efficiency and carbon capture andstorage. Elsevier is open to collaborating with interested parties in these areas. In the meantime, we aremaking the NØEnergy data set available via the ICSR Lab, 56 and welcome the development of new anddeeper analyses by interested research groups.

Final words
The above are just a few suggestions for future analyses that could inform and support the pathway to net
zero. We note that-----as mentioned by Kariuki Ngari, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, in his interview----redirection of climate change and clean energy research and development funding to support work on
COVID-19 and public health systems hit by the pandemic has been reported in Global South countries. 57 If
not effectively mitigated, this will have knock-on effects, not only on research but also on the speed andcomprehensiveness of the development and deployment of clean and affordable technologies addressing
energy needs and carbon equality, as well as achieving net zero targets.
We hope that this report will serve as a useful resource for research leaders, funders, policymakers andresearchers. NØEnergy research is doing well, but as the report has shown, there is room for improvement
to capitalize fully on the innovation and knowledge potential of this field and so tackle the single mostsignificant challenge we face: climate change.

“R&I are the most important drivers of the clean energy transition. Research on
the current state of this transition adds to and strengthens public understanding
and awareness of the climate crisis and thereby accelerates the public response to
the situation.”
Yutao Wang, Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University

56 See https://www.icsr.net/icsrlab/

57 See also Van Bodegom, A. J., & Koopmanschap, E. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change adaptation. Wageningen Centre for Development

Innovation. https://www.wur.nl/en/show/The-COVID-19-pandemic-and-climate-change-adaptation.htm; and Quevedo, A., Peters, K., & Cao, Y. (2020). The
impact of Covid-19 on climate change and disaster resilience funding [Briefing note]. ODI. https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/The_impact_of_Covid19_on_climate_change_and_disaster_resilience_funding_trends.pdf

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research140

Appendix A
Acknowledgments

Authors

Subject matter expert contributors

Analysts

Advisory group

Dr. Başak Candemir, Head of Analytical Services
Europe, APAC & Emerging Regions, Research
Analytics and Data Services, Elsevier

The Advisory Group comprised Editors and Board
Members from Elsevier’s Energy Journals portfolio.
Members contributed to one or more of the following
activities: determining the scope of the report,
reviewing early drafts and taking part in interviews.

Dr. Jörg Hellwig, Senior Research Analyst, Research
Analytics and Data Services, Elsevier
Dr. Etienne Vignola-Gagné, Senior Research Analyst,
Research Analytics and Data Services, Elsevier

Data science
Jan-Maarten van Schalkwijk, Data Scientist, Research
Analytics and Data Services, Elsevier

WriterDr. Cordelia Sealy, Oxford Science Writing, Oxford,
United Kingdom

Editorial support and management
Dr. Tina Cherrington, Director Business
Performance, Research Analytics and Data Services,
Elsevier
Adam Fraser, Senior Publisher, Renewable andSustainable Energy Journals, Elsevier
Deborah Logan, Publishing Director, Energy & Earth
Journals, Elsevier
Beverley Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief, Research Analytics
and Data Services, Elsevier
Dr. Lesley Thompson, VP Academic and Government
Strategic Alliance, Research Networks, Elsevier

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

Prof. Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor, ElectricalEngineering Department, Universidad de Oviedo,
Spain; Holder of the Smart Cities Chair at
Universidad de Oviedo; Co-founder of LEMUR
Research group; Co-founder of Plexigrid
Prof. Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability, Universityof Maryland at College Park, United States
Dr. Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy
Justice and Transitions (SPRU --- Science Policy
Research Unit), University of Sussex Business School,
United Kingdom
Prof. Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, Integrated
Research and Action for Development (IRADe), India
Prof. Patricia Thornley, Director, Energy andBioproducts Research Institute, Aston University,
United Kingdom
Prof. Yutao Wang, Professor, Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering, Fudan
University, China

Foreword
Ban Ki-moon, Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre
for Global Citizens, 8th Secretary-General of theUnited Nations

141

Appendix A

Interviews
Prof. Pablo Arboleya, Associate Professor, ElectricalEngineering Department, Universidad de Oviedo,
Spain; Holder of the Smart Cities Chair at
Universidad de Oviedo; Co-founder of LEMUR
Research group; Co-founder of Plexigrid
Prof. Franklin Carrero-Martínez, Senior Director,
Global Sustainability and Development & Science andTechnology for Sustainability, Policy and Global
Affairs Division, National Academy of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine, United States
Prof. Leon Clarke, Acting Director and Research
Director, Center for Global Sustainability, Universityof Maryland at College Park, United States
Prof. Dabo Guan FAcSS, Distinguished Professor of
Climate Change Economics at the Department ofEarth System Science, Tsinghua University, China,
and Chair at the Bartlett School of Construction and
Project Management, University College London,
United Kingdom
Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman of the Institute,
Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.; President,
Platinum Society Network; The 28th President,
University of Tokyo, Japan
Joan MacNaughton, CB HonFEI (Lady Jeffrey), Chair,
Climate Group (United Kingdom); Non-Executive
Director En+Group plc (Chair, Health, Safety andEnvironment Committee); and HAHL plc; Chair,International Advisory Board, New Energy Coalitionof Europe; Member of Advisory Boards for Equans
UK plc, the Grantham Institute (at LSE/Imperial
College), and the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy
Analysis (at the National Renewable Energy Lab,
United States)
Dr. Chukwuka Monyei, Research Fellow in Energy
Justice and Transitions (SPRU --- Science Policy
Research Unit), University of Sussex Business School,
United Kingdom
Kariuki Ngari, Managing Director & CEO, Standard
Chartered Bank Kenya

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

Prof. Yutao Wang, Professor, Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering, Fudan
University, China

Consultation
The following people were consulted to determine
the scope of the report. Some contributors preferred
to remain anonymous.
Dr. Douglas Arent, Executive Director, Strategic
Public---Private Partnerships, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, United States
Editors from Elsevier’s Energy Journal Program
Prof. Dabo Guan FAcSS, Distinguished Professor of
Climate Change Economics at the Department ofEarth System Science, Tsinghua University, China,
and Chair at the Bartlett School of Construction and
Project Management, University College London,
United Kingdom
Philipp Ruf, Director of Global Power & Carbon
Analytics, ICIS, Germany
Dr. Nick Starkey Director of Policy, Royal Academy ofEngineering, United Kingdom
Dr. Aryasomayajula Subrahmanyam, Department of
Physics, Semiconductor Laboratory, IIT Madras, India

Policy data
Euan Adie, Founder, Overton

Additional Elsevier and RELX contributors
Contributors are from Elsevier unless statedotherwise.
Dr. Márcia Balisciano, Director Corporate
Responsibility, RELX Report Operations Management

Group, and Partner Relations

Kumsal Bayazit, Chief Executive Officer
Alexandre Bédard-Vallée, Research Analyst
Roy Boverhof, Senior Data Scientist

142

Appendix A

Becky Brown, Director, Marketing Report Operations

Management group, and Marketing &Communications Group

Catherine Carnovale, Acting Head ofCommunications, Journals Marketing ReportMarketing & Communications Group

Aileen Christensen, Senior Manager, DigitalMarketing
Andrew Davis, VP Corporate Communications Report

Operations Management group, and Marketing &Communications group

Ian Evans, Content Director, Global Communications
Stephanie Faulkner, Director of Product Management
and Operations, PlumX
Dr. Nick Fowler, Chief Academic Officer Report

Executive Sponsor

Ann Gabriel, SVP Global Strategic Networks
Xingxing He, Senior Research Analyst
Yuhri Ishizaki, Global Strategic Networks Associate
Chris James, Senior Product Manager, SciVal

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

Dr. Anders Karlsson, VP Global Strategic Networks
Asia-PacificJennifer Locker, SVP Digital Marketing & Customer
Engagement Report Operations Management group,and Marketing & Communications group

William Mansfield, PatentSight, LexisNexis
Rachel Martin, Global Director Sustainability Report

Content & Analytics group

Alica May, Manager, Customer Engagement
Trish Wilgar, Senior Manager, Content Marketing
Yingying Zhou, Head of Research Analytics for China

Supporting organizations
The following organizations provided data or
additional visibility for the report.
Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens
OvertonTimes Higher Education

143

Appendix B
Glossary of terms

Altmetrics
Altmetrics is composed of a set of methods to measure the visibility of peer-reviewed scientific publications
in traditional news outlets and policy documents and on social media. These mentions are usually tracked
through document identifiers such as DOI, PMID and the URL of the article.
This report presents findings on citations and mentions of NØEnergy publications outside of Scopus-----forexample, in repositories of policy-related literature (such as the UK Parliamentary Office of Science andTechnology), online news portals (such as The Conversation or the New York Times), or social media
platforms (e.g., Wikipedia). Our analysis captures discussion of NØEnergy findings outside of the academic
community, among policymakers or government scientists, scientific educators, and a broad audience ofthe science-news-reading public.
When we refer to news or journalistic mentions, we define this as content generated by journalists, orscientific news aggregators with editorial oversight. Policy-related documents made up of technical advice
and evidence syntheses are known as synoptic science documents.
We use the PlumX and Overton databases (see Appendix C for details) to produce our altmetrics indicators.
Both databases mix automated coding and parsing methods with some manual curation to link peerreviewed publication records to those from selected online repositories and aggregators.

Bibliometrics
The quantitative data used in this report are analyzed using bibliometric techniques. Bibliometrics is a setof methods that use data from databases indexing records of scientific publications and patents, as well asother R&I outputs of growing interest such as designs and trademarks, to derive new insights into these
outputs’ corresponding funding and performance. Within bibliometrics, the branch of scientometrics
examines the records of research publications to measure scientific activity. It is also increasingly looking at
related types of outputs such as research data sets and protocols. The branch of technometrics focuses onpatent records as a proxy measure for innovation. It is being actively expanded to cover other forms ofinnovation that are not well captured by patents, such as those covered by designs and trademarks.

Competitive impact
Competitive impact is a composite indicator, used to assess the value of individual patent families. This
indicator is the product of the patent-related indicators known as market coverage and technology
relevance (see below).

Compound annual growth rate
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is defined as the year-over-year constant growth rate over a
specified period of time. Starting with the first value in any series and applying this rate for each of the timeintervals yields the amount in the final value of the series.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research144

Appendix B

Collaboration
Research collaboration is measured by counting publications resulting from the efforts of two or moreauthors. Such publications are referred to as co-publications throughout the report. Collaboration can be
categorized into various types; in this report, we focus on the following three:•International collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of a publication include
institutions from two or more countries or regions•

South international collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of an international copublication include at least one author from a Global South country; this category includes both
North---South and South---South co-publications•

Academic---corporate collaboration-----where the affiliations listed by the authors of a publication include
institutions or organizations from both academia and the corporate sector; this is a type ofintersectoral collaboration

Field-weighted citation impact
Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) is an indicator of the citation impact of a publication. It is calculated
by comparing the number of citations actually received by a publication with the number of citations
expected for a publication of the same document type, publication year and subject. An FWCI of more than
1.00 indicates that the entity’s publications have been cited more than would be expected based on the
global average for similar publications; for example, a score of 2.11 means the entity’s publications havebeen cited 111% more than the world average. An FWCI of less than 1.00 indicates that the entity’s
publications have been cited less than would be expected based on the global average for similar
publications; for example, an FWCI score of 0.87 means the publications have been cited 13% less than theworld average.
The FWCI is always defined with reference to a global baseline of 1.0 and intrinsically accounts fordifferences in citation accrual over time, differences in citation rates for different document ages (e.g., older
documents are expected to have accrued more citations than more recently published documents),
document types (e.g., reviews typically attract more citations than research articles), as well as subjects (e.g.,
publications in Medicine accrue citations more quickly than publications in Mathematics).
The FWCI uses an unweighted variable 5-year window. The mean FWCI value for 2012 publications, forexample, is calculated for documents published in 2012 using their citations from 2012 to 2017. For recent
output with less than five years since publication, all citations available at the date of data extraction areused in the calculation. For instance, if an article is published in 2016, and the data are extracted in 2018,the article’s FWCI is calculated using the article’s 2016---2018 citations.

Global South and Global North
The term Global South refers to three groups of countries: Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs),
Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and Low-Income Countries (LICs), in line with World Bank
definitions. 58 In this report, the Global South category excludes China, which is normally considered a
UMIC country. This is because although China is a recipient of some development aid, it is also a scientificpowerhouse. China collaborates routinely because of its high academic status rather than as a result ofdevelopment-oriented scientific collaboration.

58 See https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research145

Appendix B

Global North countries are divided into four categories: China, EU-27 countries (including Bulgaria), theUnited States and an aggregate of the remaining High-Income Countries (HICs), as defined by the World
Bank, which includes Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Switzerland and theUnited Kingdom.

Interdisciplinarity / conceptual diversity
The interdisciplinarity indicator captures diversity in the disciplines associated with the prior findings onwhich a research publication is based and that are cited within the publication (i.e., the thematic subfields
associated with the references). This indicator captures the conceptual underpinnings of research. In thisreport, we refer to this as ‘‘conceptual diversity’’.
Scores for this indicator are 1.00 at the global level (for a given subfield): a field will score above 1.00 if it ismore diverse than the global average or less than 1.00 if it is below the global average.
It is also possible to measure the percentage share of a publication set that achieves exceptionally highlevels of interdisciplinarity. In this report, we discuss publications that are within the top 10% mostinterdisciplinary within their field. For this indicator, a score of more than 10% is above average and a scoreof less than 10% is below average.

Inventor country or region
While technically a country or region is not an inventor, it can be helpful to infer the country or region oforigin of a patent from the address of the inventor. The term ‘‘inventor country or region’’ is shorthand for
all the patents originating from a specific country or region.

Market coverage
Market coverage is a measure of the total size of the worldwide markets in which patent protection exists.
The more patents a patentee (e.g., an institution or a country or region the patent owners are affiliatedwith) owns in important markets, the more valuable the patents are estimated to be. This is because
innovators spend more effort and resources on protection in multiple (global) markets via patents if they
believe an invention is more valuable.
Market coverage is calculated based on granted and pending patents, hence valid patents per country are
adjusted for each market’s size, as opposed to simple country counts. The size of each market is estimatedusing the sum of countries’ and regions’ gross national income (GNI) relative to the US GNI (as the largest
global economy). A market coverage of 2 means that the protected markets are in total twice as large as the
US market alone.

Multidisciplinarity / collaborative diversity
The multidisciplinarity indicator captures the diversity arising from collaboration between co-authors fromdifferent disciplines (i.e., the topics associated with the prior publications of the authors). This indicator
captures the collaborative underpinning and team composition of research. In this report, we refer to thisas ‘‘collaborative diversity’’.
The score for this indicator is 1.00 at the global level (for a given subfield): a field will score above 1.00 if it
is more diverse than the global average or less than 1.00 if it is below the global average.
It is also possible to measure the percentage share of a publication set that achieves exceptionally highlevels of multidisciplinarity. In this report, we discuss publications that are within the top 10% mostPathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research146

Appendix B

multidisciplinary within their field. For this indicator, a score of more than 10% is above average and ascore of less than 10% is below average.

NØEnergy publication set
For this report, capturing clean energy research related to net zero required the use of a diverse set of
publications in the Scopus database. These publications focus on different methods and technologies for
reducing emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere. The analyses conducted in the reportrequired the creation of a publication set that could capture all facets of this broad research field. We
therefore based our publication set on two existing Scopus publication sets relating to the United Nations’Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the set for SDG 7 --- Affordable and Clean Energy and the set for
SDG 13 --- Climate Action.
SDG 7 and SDG 13 are the SDGs most relevant to clean energy research as a pathway to net zero. While theSDG 7 publication set captures most research relating to curbing emissions, an important body of work
associated with carbon removal, particularly carbon capture and storage, is acquired by the SDG 13 set. Our
overall publication set therefore encompasses all the publications related to SDG 7, as well as those from
SDG 13 that are relevant to clean energy. We refer to this publication set as ‘‘NØEnergy research’’.

Patent asset index
The patent asset index (PAI) indicates the value of a country or region’s patent portfolio. The PAI is acomposite indicator, taking into account portfolio size, technology relevance (the number of citations fromother patents referring to the patent) and market coverage (the bigger the market, the more value it has).

Patent family
A patent family is a set of related patents that are filed at multiple patent authorities to protect the same
invention in more than one country. This has implications when analyzing patent output because counting
the number of individual patents would mean capturing the same patent multiple times, leading to errors
in assessing the value of the individual invention. Working with patent families therefore accounts for all
patents covering the same invention and enables analysis of the value of the invention.

Portfolio size
Portfolio size indicates the number of patent families attributable to an entity-----for example, a country or
region, or a topic cluster, or the overall total. When calculated for a country or region, it is attributed basedon the affiliation addresses of patents’ listed inventors.

Published patent
Patent applications must be filed with a patent office, which then ‘‘publishes’’ the patent sometime later.
The average time taken from filing to publishing varies from patent office to patent office. Once a patenthas been published it must still be ‘‘granted’’, but the granting of a patent usually takes several years. In thisreport, we count patents that have reached the point of publication.

Relative activity index
In this report, the relative activity index (RAI) indicator is defined as the share of a country’s article output ina topic cluster relative to the global share of articles in the same topic cluster. A value of 1.0 indicates that acountry or region’s research activity in a field corresponds exactly with the global activity in that field; avalue higher than 1.0 implies a greater emphasis; and a value lower than 1.0 suggests a lesser focus.

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research147

Appendix B

Scholarly output
In this report the terms output, articles and publications refer to peer-reviewed articles, reviews andconference papers published in journals and conference proceedings and indexed in the Scopus database.

South focus
South focus refers to publications with mentions of Global South locations (cities, countries or regions) intitles, abstracts or keywords. These locations are likely to be associated with fieldwork, local prototyping or
research associated with regional issues.

Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were launched by the United Nations in 2015, 59 aredefined as ‘‘the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’’, 60 by addressing the global
challenges we face. Since their launch, Elsevier has worked with the research community to map thelandscape of sustainability science, starting with the Sustainability Science in the Global ResearchLandscape report (2015), 61 developed with SciDev.net. Since then, we have mapped publications in Scopus
to 16 of the 17 SDGs, combining expert-led search queries with machine learning models.
The methods and queries for the SDG publication sets are available here:
https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/9sxdykm8s4/1

Technology relevance
Patent citations are divided into two main classes: backward citations and forward citations. Backward
citations are those made to earlier patents (or publications) cited by a focal patent; they are often used asmeasures of knowledge transfer. In contrast, forward citations are those linked to a focal patent by patents
filed after it and that list the focal patent as a backward citation. The number of forward citations a patentreceives accumulates over time and appears to be correlated to the patent’s (i.e., its underlying invention’s)
technological impact. Forward citations indicate the existence of downstream research efforts, suggestingthat money is being invested in the development of the technology. Also, the fact that a given patent has
been cited by subsequent patent applications suggests that it has been used by patent examiners to limit
the scope of protection claimed by a subsequent patentee, to the benefit of society. In this sense, forward
citations indicate both the private and the social value of inventions. Forward citations are commonly used
to measure the technological impact of innovation. 62
Technology relevance is based on forward citations. Technology relevance measures whether a patent has
been cited more often than other patents from the same technology field and year. The total number ofpatent citations received not only depends on the technology field of the patented invention but also on thetime that has passed since the patent was published. Patents only recently published tend to have received
much fewer citations than older patents. The time-dependency of citations is corrected by dividing thenumber of citations received by a patent by the average number of citations received by all patents
published in the same year.
Technology relevance also considers that international patent offices follow different citation rules.
Therefore, the number of patent citations is corrected for age, patent office citation practice and technology
59 See https://sdgs.un.org/

60 See https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

61 See https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/resource-library/sustainability-2015

62 Aristodemou, L., & Tietze, F. (2018). Citations as a measure of technological impact: A review of forward citation-based measures. World Patent Information,

53, 39---44. doi: 10.1016/j.wpi.2018.05.001

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research148

Appendix B

field. It is a relative measure comparing one patent to other patents. A value of 2 means that the patent is
twice as relevant for subsequent developments as an average patent in the same technology field and of thesame age.

Topics and topic clusters
Topics (or Topics of Prominence) refer to nearly 96,000 research topics created using the citation patternsof Scopus-indexed publications. The methodology for using citation patterns to define research topics wasdeveloped through an Elsevier collaboration with research partners. 63 The advantage of taking a citationbased approach to identify research topics is that one need not rely on identifying all the relevant keywords
to define a research area. Rather, the research area is delineated by citation patterns in the topic, whereby
research that appears in the same citation network is clustered together in the same topic. This approachprovides a more nuanced definition of the research topic.
Topic clusters are a higher-level aggregation of these research topics and are based on the same direct
citation algorithm that creates the topics. While topics are easy for subject experts to understand, they are
more difficult for subject generalists to comprehend. To help in the discovery and understanding of the
topics, Elsevier has aggregated them into around 1,500 topic clusters. When the strength of the citation
links between topics reaches a threshold, a topic cluster is formed. Topic clusters are named by the threemost relevant key phrases within the cluster-----for example, Wind Power | Electric Power Transmission
Networks | Electric Power Distribution or Deforestation | Forest | Conservation.
Both topics and topic clusters are mutually exclusive: a publication belongs to only one topic and only one
topic cluster. More information on topics is available athttps://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scival/releases/topic-prominence-in-science andhttps://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28428/

63 Klavans, R., & Boyack, K. W. (2017). Research portfolio analysis and topic prominence. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 1158--1174.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.10.002

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research149

Appendix C
Data sources and analytical platforms

Elsevier Fingerprint Engine®
Based on state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, the Elsevier Fingerprint Engine
is a back-end software system that extracts information from the unstructured text of scientific documents.
It applies a domain-relevant thesaurus to each scientific publication to map text to semantic ‘‘fingerprints’’or collections of weighted key concepts. By identifying and extracting new concepts, the Elsevier
Fingerprint Engine can enrich each thesaurus and generate new vocabularies, so it continuously improves
the insights it delivers to researchers and funding bodies. It can be used as a back-office processing
component of applications or as a stand-alone service. See https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/elsevierfingerprint-engine

OvertonOverton is the world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications andworking papers. Its database consists of more than 1.65 million policy documents, with data collected from182 countries and over a thousand sources worldwide. These policy documents include white papers frominternational multilateral organizations, as well as guidelines from city councils, parliamentary transcripts
and other classes of the so called ‘‘gray literature’’. Around half of these documents make citations toacademic or scholarly publications. More than 2 million distinct journal-based publications are cited by atleast one policy document in the database. See https://www.overton.io/

PatentSight
LexisNexis PatentSight is a powerful and easy-to-use analysis platform that provides quick answers that areaccessible to both top management and intellectual property experts, as well as data experts in a wide arrayof application areas. The software and its underlying data enable the evaluation of companies andtechnologies, comprehensive analysis for strategic decision-making, as well as searching and viewing
individual patents and all important patent details. PatentSight BI is praised for its intuitive usability,
flexibility and powerful visualizations. PatentSight compiles bibliographic patent data from over 95
authorities worldwide (utilizing DOCDBN, the European Patent Office’s master documentation databasewith worldwide coverage) and has the most comprehensive full-text patent data, with over 100 million
patent documents in English, approximately 700 million drawings and illustrations of inventions, andnearly 100 million PDFs that are searchable (via OCR) and quickly downloadable. See
https://www.patentsight.com/en/

PlumX
PlumX Metrics provide insights into the ways people interact with individual pieces of research output inthe online environment. Examples include research being mentioned in the news or tweeted about. These
metrics are divided into five categories (citations, usage, captures, mentions, social media) to help makesense of the huge amounts of data involved and to enable analysis by comparing like with like. See
https://plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics/

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research

150

Appendix C

SciVal
SciVal is a web-based analytics solution with unparalleled flexibility that provides access to the research
performance of over 20,000 academic, industry and government research institutions and their associatedresearchers, output and metrics. SciVal allows you to visualize your research performance, benchmark
relative to peers, develop strategic partnerships, identify and analyze emerging research trends, and create
uniquely tailored reports. See www.scival.com

ScopusScopus is Elsevier’s expertly curated abstract and citation database with content from over 7,000 publishers
to help track and enhance researcher and institutional data and discover global research in all fields. Scopus
covers over 84 million items from more than 26,000 serial titles, 240,000+ books and 10.4 million+
conference papers connected through a robust data model including over 94,000 affiliation and 17 million
author profiles. Scopus coverage is multilingual and global: approximately 46% of the titles in Scopus are
published in languages other than English (or published in both English and another language). In
addition, more than half of Scopus content originates from outside North America, representing countries
across Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. See www.scopus.com

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research151AboutThis report was prepared and published by Elsevier’s Analytical Services, part of its Research Intelligenceportfolio of products and services, which serve research institutions, government agencies and funders.
Whether your institution is conducting research or funding it, Research Intelligence provides the objective
and analytical insight needed to improve your ability to establish, execute and evaluate national andinstitutional research strategy.
For more information about Elsevier’s Research Intelligence portfolio, please visit:www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence

About Elsevier
Elsevier, a global leader in information and analytics, helps researchers and healthcare professionals
advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Growing from our roots inpublishing, we have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years.
Elsevier offers knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal
progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support
strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and health education. Elsevier
publishes over 2,650 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 42,000 eBook titles; and our
iconic reference works, such as Gray’s Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of informationbased analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. See www.elsevier.com

Pathways to Net Zero: The Impact of Clean Energy Research152

Elsevier is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V. | RELX Group and the RE symbol are trademarks of
RELX Intellectual Properties SA, used under license. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Analytical Services