Quick Returns: A Pivot to Short-term Cleantech?

“There are a lot of factors influencing a short-term mentality when it comes to investing in cleantech.” – Gareth Dixon

Shortly after Donald Trump’s second inauguration as President of the USA, the White House released an Executive Order withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate mitigation and signaling a shift in the US’ priorities relating to climate change at a global level. This was actually the US’ second withdrawal from the Agreement, following President Trump’s initial withdrawal during his first term in 2017.

An Executive Order posted by the White House on Earth Day 2025 suggested the US has no intention of abandoning the pursuit of sustainability completely, rather pivoting to an approach that uplifts “antiviral” type technologies, highlighting carbon capture as an example (the analogy being that antiviral drugs don’t prevent viruses from entering the body but instead neutralise or suppress them once they’re present. Carbon capture technologies don’t stop emissions from being produced—they remove or store carbon dioxide after it’s already in the atmosphere or emitted from industrial sources). What could this shift in priority mean for cleantech innovation both in the US and across the globe?

Global shifts, or opportunity?

As discussed in our previous article, “Cleantech patents: staller or stimulator”, the patent system facilitates more efficient development of clean technologies through a number of initiatives, including government mechanisms such as compulsory licensing and Crown licensing. The latter is a process in which a government compensates a patentee in exchange for a license to access and disseminate a patented technology. Additionally, cleantech innovators often rely on government funding initiatives through the research and development stage to push their clean technology through to commercialisation.

With this global reliance on state funding, the US government’s shift towards a preference for “antiviral” style clean technologies may cause challenges for cleantech innovators pursuing funding for inventions focused on long-term results. This change in strategy could potentially influence a broader global technological shift—or present an opportunity for other nations to fill the gap.

“First and foremost, we’re seeing the US pulling back from certain kinds of technologies and prioritising others. Following the US’ lead could create a ripple effect. On the other hand, it could create opportunities for other nations if there’s a niche that suddenly the US isn’t prioritizing—and this may be of interest to leading innovators like Japan, China or Europe. The US has historically been influential not just financially but in terms of research trends and outputs, but in this particular scenario it’s tough to predict which way the world will go,” says Gareth Dixon, Principal at Spruson & Ferguson.

A practical financial pivot

An attractive aspect of “antiviral” technology outputs are the quick returns, and confidence that a strong result will be delivered in the short term. Technologies like carbon capture are typically able to provide positive results for investors with minimal delay.

“There are a lot of factors influencing a short-term mentality when it comes to investing in cleantech. On the one hand, you could invest in something that may be a game-changer over the long term, but is equally likely to go belly-up. Alternatively, you’ve got another invention that you know can deliver a decent outcome in the short to medium term.

“Inventions focused on achieving results in the short term may also appear favourable from a patent and commercialisation perspective. The patent system has incentives in place to aid clean technologies towards a fast-tracked patent outcome, which would hypothetically be applicable regardless of the pace of ‘results’ the technology would achieve. However, keeping it all in perspective, a patent isn’t the be all and end all absent a workable pathway towards commercialisation and funding, both of which are critically important for inventors trying to keep their technology afloat, let alone profitable,” says Dr Dixon.

Cleantech outputs trending up

Though it’s challenging to predict the global implications of this trend, it is clear that globally, cleantech innovation is becoming more popular.

“Generally, cleantech is one of the ‘sexiest’ areas in the global innovation ecosystem, and the pace of change is exponential. The ability for nations to innovate in this space is often influenced by geography. Australia, for example, has a lot of coastline offering waves and sand, and we have heaps of sunlight across the country. So clean technologies like solar and wave power are very prominent here. Land-locked countries have a different balance of natural resources. Regardless, we have seen a global increase in the desirability of cleantech innovation, particularly following developments such as the Paris Agreement, and general growth in environmental consciousness throughout the world,” says Dr Dixon.

“Where we are seeing growth in cleantech is consistent with where we see innovation across all areas—Asia, particularly China, the US, Europe and other big industrial players. And cleantech innovation outputs are becoming increasingly diversified. With social and political pressures to push for sustainability, more and more people, research groups and corporations are creating and investing in clean technologies. Expansion and diversification go hand in hand,” Dr Dixon concludes.