Udaipur, July 31, 2025: The world is burning.  As we continue to put carbon into the atmosphere at runaway levels and continue to produce energy and consume power at unprecedented levels, temperatures rise and create tipping points in the environment and ecosystem.  We are on a treacherous path and the only way to get off it is to do things that are inconsistent with the human addictions of consumption and growth.

Perhaps, though, there is a way out.  The world energy system today is still largely fossil-fuel based- with about an 80% share.  Though renewables are growing and nuclear fission is in a renaissance period, much of the developing world is still largely coal-based (India and China for example.)  As populations in these developing countries rightly look to prosper, what will fuel this prosperity?  The answer could very well be Nuclear Fusion.

Fusion has been understood conceptually for seven decades.  Governments worldwide have spent enormous resources in attempting to create controlled Fusion on Earth.  With four times the energy density of Fission and few of the waste issues, Fusion can be the world’s source of abundant, low carbon, baseload power. 

Over the last ten years, private enterprises have recognized this and poured in over $10 billion in investment.  The private Fusion ecosystem can now boast of over 100 companies, spread across the world though concentrated in the US, Germany, UK, France, Japan, and China.  These companies are looking to accelerate the path to Commercially Viable Fusion (CVF).  While approaches (and machine types) differ, the goal is the same.  While the industry is not “there” yet, the bogey is in sight.

As important as it is, Fusion still has not garnered the amounts of capital and support it needs.  This is partially because investors are attuned to short- and medium-term gains while Fusion is a “moon shot.”  Such ideas, and scientific innovation in general, are not necessarily amenable to the established logic of Venture Capital.  For this reason, public-private partnerships are key.

There are elephants in the room, for sure.   There is a daisy chain of production and innovation that must happen for us to get to the bogey and put it down.  One thing we can count on is constant human ingenuity.  The pace of chance in Fusion is the highest it has ever been.  As with Fusion itself, the Fusion industry needs the right fuel to sustain its innovation, growth, and advancement.

Moonshots require not only innovation but also particularly dynamic management structures and resources allocations. Fusion, like many other areas, can succumb to grandiose and large projects with interminable timelines.  Fusioneers must watch out for any signs of calcification of bureaucratization of the industry, since time is the watchword.

If we can get there, and many of us are betting that we can, we will offer a real alternative to the energy conundrums we face as humanity.  Nothing could be more important. 

The exclusive article has been contributed by Romi Mahajan, CEO, ExoFusion