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Innovation & Technology

Aligning Public Finance Policies with Technology Readiness Levels in Clean Energy Technologies: Task Force Report

Task Force Report by Tom Moerenhout & Sofia Parker • September 20, 2026

Acknowledgments

This task force report is part of a joint initiative by the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA and the New Energy Industrial Strategy Center (NEIS Center) on the role of governments in supporting the financing of strategic energy transition technologies and projects. It reflects the authors’ understanding of key points made over the course of two roundtable discussions and also represents the research and views of the authors. It does not necessarily represent the views of CGEP, Columbia University, or the NEIS Center. The piece may be subject to further revision.

This work is generously supported by, and delivered in partnership with, the NEIS Center—a thought partner, funder, and community builder that helps create advanced energy systems that support competitive economies and power the industries of the future.

The authors extend their sincere appreciation to the task force project chairs Dave Turk, Wally Adeyemo, and Michael Bruce. They are also grateful to Josh Zoffer, Narayan Subramanian, Sarah Ladislaw, and Jonas Lahm for their guidance, leadership, and thoughtful inputs throughout the project. The authors are deeply grateful to Cina Vazir for his leadership and advice on key parts of the publication. Finally, the authors thank Jack Arnold, Kevin Brunelli, Maximilian Kessler, and Ashish Sharma for their invaluable contributions to the research and drafting of this report.


Click here a full list of financial supporters of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. See below a list of members that are currently in CGEP’s Visionary Annual Circle. This list is updated periodically.

CGEP’s Visionary Annual Circle

Corporate Partnerships
Occidental Petroleum Corporation

Foundations and Individual Donors
Aphorism Foundation
Laura and John Arnold
The bedari collective
Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust
Climateworks Foundation
Greg Goff
Blue Horizons Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
David Leuschen
The Rockefeller Foundation
Ray Rothrock
Mike & Sofia Segal
Kimberley and Scott Sheffield
Catherine and Tracy Wolstencroft
Daniel Ziff

Executive Summary

Over the past decade, governments in developed economies have expanded the use of public financing tools to support the development of clean energy and critical materials technologies. Instruments such as grants, concessional loans, guarantees, offtake arrangements, and tax credits have been deployed to address climate, energy, supply chain, and geopolitical objectives. As technologies evolve from early research through demonstration and then commercial scale, policy effectiveness changes depending on the instrument used. This task force report, which synthesizes insights from two expert roundtable discussions on the past decade of US industrial policy, highlights key lessons on how governments can sequence public finance tools as technologies and projects mature.

Key findings of this report include the following:

  • Technology development and deployment failures can stem not only from insufficient amounts of government support but also from the misapplication of instruments as technology risk profiles change. The same instrument can be effective at one technology readiness level (TRL) but less effective at another.
  • To ensure that policy tools are targeting the specific risk at hand—whether it be technical and scientific risk, execution and performance risk, or scale-up and commercial risk—governments need to recalibrate public support at each development stage.
  • For technologies at early stages of development (TRL 1–3), such as plasma separation for rare earth elements or direct internal recycling for nuclear fusion, distributing small and flexible grants across a large number of participants allows multiple technological pathways to be pursued simultaneously. Tolerating some level of “failure” across a portfolio of projects is a design requirement, not a weakness.
  • For technologies at middle stages of development (TRL 4–7), such as small modular reactors or superhot rock geothermal, cost-sharing agreements can outperform straight grants by enhancing incentive alignment and introducing outside commercial discipline. This stage requires industrial policy that addresses both the expensive and risky first-of-a-kind (FOAK) construction needs of TRL 4–7. Sliding-scale cost-share ratios reflect the risk level of the recipient, and milestone-based technical validation by public agencies can operate as a financing instrument by providing private capital with a credible signal of technical viability.
  • For projects at later stages of development (TRL 8–9), such as conventional mineral extraction and lithium iron phosphate battery manufacturing, revenue stabilization instruments are critical for securing the substantial project finance debt typically required for projects in this phase. Permitting and regulatory uncertainty can also become more binding constraints than residual technology risk at this stage.
  • Political durability of public programs that support the ability of technologies and projects to secure financing requires deliberate institutional design. Arm’s-length lending agencies, credible public narratives about acceptable failure rates, and multiyear program authorization can help industrial policy programs survive political cycles.
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Innovation & Technology

Aligning Public Finance Policies with Technology Readiness Levels in Clean Energy Technologies: Task Force Report

Task Force Report by Tom Moerenhout & Sofia Parker • September 20, 2026