These are the Biden administration's five net zero technology priorities

The White House just laid out its climate tech priorities to reach net zero by 2050.

As part of a new initiative to accelerate research into “game-changing climate innovations,” the Biden administration highlighted five areas where research today could have a particularly transformative impact on cleaning up carbon pollution. Among them are building efficiency, the power grid, aviation, industrial processes, and fusion energy. The initiative illustrates where the federal government believes the most promising technology will spring from as the country — and the entire world for that matter — attempts to innovate its way to net zero.

A working group with members from 17 agencies is spearheading the initiative, though it will be chaired by White House climate advisers. In its initial report, the group laid out 37 categories of technology where R&D could make major inroads. These span from reducing emissions from livestock to advanced nuclear fission. The five priority areas that the group will focus its near-term attention, though.

• When it comes to efficiently heating and cooling buildings, the report specifically cites the importance of researching refrigerants with low global warming potential. Those will be especially crucial following U.S. ratification of the Kigali Amendment earlier this year.
• Power grid research also stands poised to provide major returns on investment. The report notes that technologies from advanced transmission to improved distribution systems could “reduce the total cost of reaching net-zero emissions across the economy” as people integrate more electric vehicles and appliances into their lives.
• While private companies are beginning to make progress in cleaning up aviation's climate footprint, said progress remains marginal. The report said the working group will look into both electric and hybrid planes as well as the use of sustainable aviation fuels.
• Improving industrial processes and fuels also presents a particular challenge. The administration is focusing on “new ways to make materials and fuels” to cut emissions, improve efficiency, and limit waste. This could include the creating synthetic fuels using renewable energy, dubbed "electrofuels."
• The report says fusion energy “could potentially meet a large fraction of electricity demand.” The technology, though, is still many years from commercial viability.

While we have many of the technologies needed to start cutting emissions today, an International Energy Agency report found that nearly half of the emissions reductions that the world will need to get to net zero by 2050 will involve many technologies “that are currently at the demonstration or prototype phase.” The administration (as well as the tech industry) will now work to speed up getting them ready for deployment.

With that in mind, the report defined potential “game-changers” to include new technologies with no current commercial adoption (such as fusion energy), improved existing technologies (such as direct air capture), or combinations thereof. Some of those technologies that the White House highlighted have proved controversial or seen high profile failures, though. That's not a reason to not invest in them, though, and the working group will be calibrating what the best levels of funding could look like.

“A diversified portfolio is needed to ensure success in meeting our climate commitments and capturing the opportunity for American industries to lead the global energy transition,” the group concluded in the report.

The new initiative does not come with a specific price tag or funding, though. The working group’s report said it will be “leveraging clean energy innovation investments" that were included in the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act in order to accelerate research into the five near-term priority areas. The group will also lay out plans for bringing new technologies from early-stage research to widespread deployment.