Energy Technology RD&D Budgets, Environmental Sustainability, and Energy Transition: A Review of Emerging Trends, Policies, and Pathways

To achieve net-zero emissions towards sustainable development goals (SDGs), where access to affordable and sustainable energy is the seventh SDG by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the necessity of clean energy technologies (CETs) has been increasingly crucial than ever (IEA, Energy technology perspectives 2020. IEA, Paris, 2020b). Navigating through the roles of energy RD&D budgets as a crucial part of the World Energy Investment for energy transition, this chapter provides a thorough review of emerging trends, policies, and pathways for sustainable development where the energy sector is central for targeting carbon neutrality by 2050. Based on the extant literature, this chapter introduces a four-factor theoretical framework that is newly developed for modeling energy, environment, and climate change. Introduced to scholars for the very first time, this new four-factor model is not only in a perfect line with the existing research strands but also sheds light on a more comprehensive theoretical foundation for future studies on environmental sustainability and sustainable development. The chapter’s findings and its newly developed theoretical framework provide a useful referencing source with important policies, implications, empirical research perspectives, and future pathways suggested to scholars, policymakers, governments, NGOs, and other related parties.