This Survey proposes mainstreaming sustainable development objectives into existing national innovation systems and situating those objectives at their very core so as to create what it calls Green National Innovation Systems (G-NIS). The G-NIS would also serve both to coordinate the reorientation of sector-specific innovation systems for agriculture, energy, construction, manufacturing and transport, among other sectors, towards a focus on green technologies and to ensure consistency among green technology, industrial and demand-side policies. A comprehensive global energy transition is urgently needed in order to avert a major planetary catastrophe.