BEIJING (AP) – As energy ministers from around the world gather Beijing to report increased spending to help counter climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has delivered a starkly countervailing message.
India, France, Norway, Canada, Australia and Japan said this week they were on track to double their clean energy research spending.
Perry said that in the U.S., the private sector will have to do more as President Donald Trump promotes fossil fuels and proposes to roll back clean energy spending.
Perry emphasized that government-backed early stage scientific work remained a priority in the U.S., but bringing any breakthroughs to market will be up to private companies.
That’s a sharp departure from past practice and illustrates a new reality emerging across the global energy landscape, where U.S. innovations have long dominated.