The growing urgency of the global climate challenge has triggered a lively debate in Washington, London and other capitals around the world over policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many supporters of government action argue that the problem is so great, and the need for new environmentally-friendly technologies so immediate, that we now need the equivalent of a Manhattan Project or Apollo Programme to tackle climate change.
This paper agrees that we need to take action, but shows why these programmes represent misleading models for policymakers faced with this challenge.
The paper also reveals a range of more relevant historical examples of support for technology development from the US and the UK that policymakers can learn from.
Published
October 2009
Author
David C Mowery, Richard R Nelson and Ben Martin
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