The climate crisis calls for a different kind of moonshot. Energy Earthshots™ will accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade.  They will drive the major innovation breakthroughs that we know we must achieve to solve the climate crisis, reach our 2050 net-zero carbon goals, and create the jobs of the new clean energy economy. The Energy Earthshots target the remaining solution points of the most challenging technical problems across our energy economy. 

The Energy Earthshots are designed to drive integrated program development across the U.S. Department of Energy's science and applied energy offices and ARPA-E and take an ‘all R&D community’ approach to leading science and technology innovations to address tough technological challenges and cost hurdles, and rapidly advance solutions to help achieve our climate and economic competitiveness goals.

Current Energy Earthshots

The first Energy Earthshot – Hydrogen Shot™ – was announced on June 7, 2021, and sets an ambitious yet achievable cost target to accelerate innovations and spur demand of clean hydrogen by reducing the cost by 80%.  

The second Energy Earthshot – Long Duration Storage Shot™ – was announced on July 14, 2021, and aims to achieve affordable grid storage for clean power - anytime, anywhere - by reducing the cost of grid-scale energy storage by 90% for systems that deliver 10+ hours of duration within the decade.

The third Energy Earthshot – Carbon Negative Shot™ – was announced on November 5, 2021, and is the all-hands-on-deck call for innovation in technologies and approaches that will remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and durably store it at meaningful scales for less than $100/net metric ton of CO₂-equivalent (CO₂e).

The fourth Energy Earthshot – Enhanced Geothermal Shot™ – was announced on September 8, 2022, and is a department-wide effort to dramatically reduce the cost of enhanced geothermal systems by 90%, to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035. 

The fifth Energy Earthshot – Floating Offshore Wind Shot™ – was announced on September 15, 2022 with the goal of driving down costs to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035 to spur U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind technology, accelerate decarbonization, and deliver benefits for coastal communities.

The sixth Energy Earthshot – Industrial Heat Shot™ – was announced on September 21, 2022 and is a Department-wide initiative to develop cost-competitive industrial heat decarbonization technologies with at least 85% lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. 

The seventh Energy Earthshot – Clean Fuels & Products Shot™ – was announced on May 24, 2023, and is a Department-wide initiative focused on decarbonizing the fuel and chemical industry through alternative sources of carbon in order to advance cost-effective technologies.