Global Apollo Programme
The Global Apollo Programme was a historic call for a major global
baseload electricity less costly than electricity from coal by the year 2025.[1]
Inspiration and aims
Launched in June 2015, the project - named for the
UK, already meet the GDP percentage target spend, but many do not and there is little international coordination to maximise the results.[1]
It has been modelled on the more recent International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, an international research collaborative that is credited with greatly and swiftly improving the quality and economics of semiconductor manufacture.[4]
Key areas of focus
- Renewable energy - in particular that derived from solar and wind sources[5]
- Energy storage
- Smart grids
- hydrogen vehicles[6]
Key people
Launch report authors
The initiative is spearheaded by the
Endorsers
The following were signatories on an open letter published to The Guardian newspaper, alongside the launch report authors, in September 2015.[9]
- Sir David Attenborough (video endorsement)
- Professor Brian Cox, University of Manchester
- Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever
- Ed Davey, Former UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
- Grantham Institute
- Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group
- Ben Goldsmith Founder, Menhaden Capital
- Zac Goldsmith, British MP and London mayoral candidate
- Professor Grantham Institute
- Grantham Institute; vice-president of Royal Meteorological Society
- Peter Bakker, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
- Professor John Shepherd, University of Southampton
- Dr Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Professor
Earth Institute at Columbia University has separately publicly endorsed the programme.[10]
Professor Sir David King has publicly stated that Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is "keen" on the programme.[1]
Reaction
At last - an authoritative, practical and comprehensible plan that could avert the catastrophe that is threatening our planet.
—
[Research and development in renewables] should be like the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Project in the sense that the government should put in a serious amount of R&D.
— Bill Gates, spearhead of Mission Innovation, 25 June 2015[13]
We will work together and with other interested countries to raise the overall coordination and transparency of clean energy research, development and demonstration... We ask our Energy Ministers to take forward these initiatives...
— Leaders of the
Foremost, governments need to fund research and development for low-carbon energy technologies at Apollo-program levels of commitment... The required funding of this ultimate public good is too great a risk with too little a reward for private companies. But it is easily fundable by governments.
— Professor Steven Pinker, Harvard University[15]
Key dates
- The programme was discussed at the Energy Ministers run-up meeting to the 41st G7 summit.[1]
- It featured in the Leader's Declaration of the 41st G7 summit itself.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Guardian News Media. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- Congress of the United States. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 October 2006. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- Pearson PLC. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ "Summary - the organisation of the Programme". Global Apollo Programme. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
- ^ Rundle, Michael (2 June 2015). "How The 'Apollo Programme' For Energy Might Just Save The Planet". WIRED. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-262-02918-6.
- British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ Coghlan, Andy (2 June 2015). "New Apollo programme wants moonshot budget to boost renewables". NewScientist. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ Letters. "Help the Global Apollo Programme make clean energy cheaper than coal". The Guardian. No. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ^ Sachs, Jeffrey. "Our generation's moonshot: A clean-energy world by 2050". MarketWatch. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Parliamentary Business, House of Lords". Hansard. Column 313. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ "Push to make renewables cheaper". Yahoo! News. Press Association. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- Pearson PLC. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^ Group of Seven (G7). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ Pinker, Steven; Goldstein, Joshua S. "Inconvenient truths for the environmental movement". The Boston Globe. No. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.