The clean energy transition is well underway around the world, at what many experts estimate to be an unstoppable velocity. While political shifts in the United States are pulling the emergency break on clean energy policy mechanisms, the international energy sector is plowing full-steam ahead. “This is no longer a distant promise: it is happening now, at a pace and scale that was unthinkable even five years ago,” writes Reuters, “and it is being driven not just by advanced economies but increasingly by developing ones.”

As clean energy becomes cheaper, more reliable, and more decentralized, increasing adoption of renewable and clean energy technologies is a no-brainer for many countries. It’s not even about clean energy policy anymore – it’s basic economics. Take Pakistan – one of the world’s largest new adopters of solar power, at what may be the fastest rate in history. The nation’s traditional energy model based on fossil fuel imports has led to rolling blackouts and punishing energy prices for locals. As a result, citizens are increasingly turning to rooftop solar with attached battery systems to power their homes more affordably and reliably. 

And Pakistan is just one example of many emerging economies that are turning to clean energy technologies to provide energy affordably, reliably, and locally. “The new generation of wind and solar power, batteries, and electric vehicles are on the verge of, or have already achieved, escape velocity, breaking free from the gravity of political capriciousness,” reads a recent article from Vox. “In a lot of places, especially in power generation, the cleanest option is also the fastest, the cheapest, and the one most likely to turn a profit. That’s true whether or not you care about the climate.”

A recent analysis from Ember shows that roughly two-thirds of the world’s emerging and developing economies are now leapfrogging the United States and Europe in their shift to clean energy. And it’s clear why – the Ember report also calculates that 91 percent of new solar and wind developments are even cheaper than the cheapest fossil fuel plants when accounting for fuel cost. As a result, last year a whopping 87 percent of energy generation investment in emerging economies and China went to clean energy projects.

China has been instrumental in bringing clean energy to emerging economies around the globe. Through their ambitious Belt and Road international infrastructure project and well-established trade relationships, China has established itself as the central player of the global clean energy market. “Since 2018, Kenya, Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania have imported an amount of Chinese solar equal to roughly half the capacity of their entire power grid,” reads a recent report from Yale Environment 360. Recent United States policy has only served to solidify those trade relationships and incentivise closer ties between China and many emerging economies who have been targeted by steep tariffs. 

However, developing nations still need a leg up in terms of climate financing if global targets are to be met. A coalition of rich and poor governments around the globe has prepared an open letter for this week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York this week urging global leaders to act swiftly in what is to be a “decisive decade” for the climate. 

“Stark disparities in access to energy and investment remain,” the statement warns. “Much more needs to be done to ensure the transition not only advances globally but also benefits the people and economies that need it most.” Africa, which has some of the greatest clean energy production potential in the world, has received only a fraction of global climate financing, despite the fact that its people are already suffering the impacts of climate change brought on by emissions from the Global North.

While the clean energy transition makes good economic sense, and has reached “escape velocity” in some contexts, scientists say that it needs to be significantly hastened to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. While clean energy projects are ramping up internationally, so too are fossil fuel developments. 

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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