New CNAS Report: "Reimagine: Clean Energy Technology and U.S. Industrial Policy"

Washington, September 7, 2022—Today, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a new report, “Reimagine: Clean Energy Technology and U.S. Industrial Policy” from author Jonas Nahm, assistant professor of Energy, Resources, and Environment at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

The report assesses U.S. industrial policy for clean energy sectors and argues that, despite an early lead by the United States in clean energy research and development, other economies have more frequently used proactive industrial policies to successfully support the development of their own clean energy technology industries.

The report develops four recommendations to improve the competitiveness of U.S. clean energy industries:

• First, the United States should establish a state development bank that could fund domestic manufacturing projects in sectors, such as clean energy, that have struggled to raise financing from U.S. financial institutions.
  
• Second, the U.S. government should ramp up investments in vocational training programs that would meet the workforce needs of growing clean energy manufacturing sectors.
  
• Third, the federal government should set stable regulatory requirements and binding targets for clean energy markets as part of a national strategy for competitiveness in clean energy sectors.
  
• Fourth, the United States should limit the use of trade restrictions as industrial policy tools and instead focus on improving the competitiveness of domestic clean energy firms through proactive industrial policies.

"Reimagine" is published as part of the U.S. National Industrial Policy Strategy project at CNAS and builds on analysis and insights from the previous CNAS publications, "Reboot: Framework for a New American Industrial Policy” and “Regenerate: Biotechnology and U.S. Industrial Policy." The project is developing an intellectual framework for industrial policy in the American context, in an era of strategic competition with technology at its center. The goal of the project is to pave the way for enhanced and sustained American economic competitiveness and technological leadership.

Read the full report here.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the report author, please contact Cameron Edinburgh at cedinburgh@cnas.org