The leaders’ declaration that emerged from September’s G20 summit in New Delhi highlighted the urgent need for collective action on climate change and sustainable finance. Central to the group’s Green Development Pact is the recognition that the energy transition must be cost-effective to accelerate progress. To reach this tipping point in affordability, we must remove the barriers — such as insufficient and expensive energy storage — currently preventing the growth of renewables.
To be sure, there is a lot of ground to cover. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2022, the energy sector needs to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. There is also the question of funding. As part of the declaration, G20 leaders reaffirmed the commitment made by developed countries to mobilize US$100 billion per year in climate finance to support the developing world’s mitigation and adaptation efforts.
In a speech before the summit, European Council President Charles Michel said that this goal would be met for the first time this year. While this represents a significant step forward, it falls far short of the US$4.5 trillion in annual clean-energy investments required by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
A massive shift in our approach to climate finance is clearly necessary. Multilateral development banks and philanthropies should play a vital role in facilitating affordable financing and mitigating risk to encourage private-sector investment, as well as establishing low-cost funds to ease the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. The goal is not only to decrease dramatically the price of clean-energy technologies, but also to lower the costs for research and development, facilitate reaching mass-market scale and develop financial linkages.
However, progress on affordability requires a concerted effort from all quarters. By collaborating to drive down the costs of renewables, we can ignite demand, stimulate innovation and trigger a market transformation that paves the way to a more sustainable and resilient future for us all.
Much depends on solving the problem of energy storage. Solar and wind power will almost certainly account for most renewable-electricity generation, owing to their affordability and widespread availability. However, these sources are abundant only some of the time: Countries around the equator receive about 12 hours of sunlight each day, while wind is inconsistent. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are emerging as a potential solution to this inherent variability, especially as they approach a critical cost-efficiency threshold.
The Global Leadership Council, which was established by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (of which I am chairman), has made BESS one of its signature initiatives. At the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the council is to launch the BESS Consortium, a multistakeholder partnership of leading development-finance institutions that would support the deployment of first-wave BESS projects across developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim is to mobilize 5 gigawatts of BESS by the end of next year, secure more than US$4 billion in grant, concessional and commercial finance and, by 2030, unlock 90 gigawatts of BESS to enable 400 gigawatts of renewable energy.
India, in particular, has huge potential for BESS, given its plan to increase renewable-energy capacity to 600 gigawatts (65 percent of total installed capacity) by 2032. To achieve this ambitious goal, distribution companies must be able to procure and accommodate large volumes of renewables in a sustainable manner. At the distribution end, BESS can provide grid balancing, ramping support and other critical services to reduce the total cost of power procurement.
In New Delhi, a 40-megawatt-hours BESS project aims to build a scalable pathway for 1 gigawatt of storage by 2026, creating 10,000 jobs. The pilot project, when scaled up, could advance the technology and encourage more widespread renewable use. This would enhance the stability and dependability of the power grid, allowing for greater integration of clean-energy sources. Eventually, the project could cut carbon dioxide emissions and ensure a cost-effective and reliable supply of renewables.
These technologies have immense potential to promote economic diversification, strengthen energy security and foster job opportunities. Collaborating to advance them and establish a global landscape where sustainable energy underpins prosperity was the focus of last week’s Energy Transition Dialogues in India.
The race to make renewables affordable offers an unparalleled opportunity to generate sustainable and inclusive growth while reducing carbon emissions. However, we can get there only if the private sector, governments and civil society act together to lower the price of — and increase access to — clean tech.
Ravi Venkatesan is chairman of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not