Which Countries Lead on Energy Innovation, with David Hart

Which Countries Lead on Energy Innovation, with David Hart

From Resources Radio by Resources for the Future

April 6, 2026 · 33 min

About this episode

David Hart discusses the Global Energy Innovation Index and its implications for energy innovation and climate policy.

For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by David M. Hart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor emeritus at George Mason University, to discuss the making and findings of CFR’s Global Energy Innovation Index. According to Hart, energy innovation—and policy that supports it—is crucial to addressing climate change. Through comprehensive data synthesis, Hart and his team created an index for 39 countries that evaluates a nation’s capacity to support energy innovation across three categories: the policy environment for investment, the market friendliness for new technologies, and the production of knowledge via research and patents. Results show that while Scandinavian countries take the lead overall in the index, the United States scores strongly in the policy and market measures and leaves room for improvement in terms of research and patents. The index provides a global lens on energy innovation efforts, Hart notes, as one country’s strides in technology can help spur innovation internationally. References and recommendations: “Global Energy Innovation Index” by David M. Hart, Colin Cunliff, Mia Beams, and Akkshath Subrahmanian…

People in this episode

Host: Daniel Raimi

Guest: David M. Hart

Topics covered

  • energy innovation
  • climate change
  • policy
  • technology
  • global index

Keywords

  • Global Energy Innovation Index
  • CFR
  • Scandinavian countries
  • United States
  • research
  • patents

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Global Energy Innovation Index, Semiosis

Books & works: Semiosis

Places: the United States

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