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WANT to fix the climate? Then we need a global investment of 拢15 billion a year 鈥� the same amount used to put a man on the moon.
That鈥檚 according to the , launched in London this week. It wants to jump-start research into cracking the biggest technological obstacle to widespread adoption of solar and wind energy: how to store and distribute it so it can be used as and when needed. Once this happens, clean energy can undercut coal 鈥� seen as vital to limit warming to 2 掳C.
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鈥淭he challenge is as big as putting a man on the moon,鈥� says of the London School of Economics, one of the founders of the programme. 鈥淚t took 拢15 billion a year over 10 years to get a man on the moon, and we鈥檙e suggesting that鈥檚 the absolute minimum needed globally per year to crack this problem.鈥�
The group wants governments to earmark 0.02 per cent of their annual economic output to the effort and says several nations, including the US, Japan, India and China, plus the European Union, have already committed to supporting it. The money is meant to drive the leaps in technology needed to encourage the private sector to step in.
鈥淲e want to de-risk the process for the private sector,鈥� says , the UK government鈥檚 special representative for climate change. 鈥淲e need to create clean energy that鈥檚 cheaper than fossil fuel, and once we reach that, we win on all fronts.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淐limate鈥檚 Apollo mission鈥�
