Time to Double Down on the Green Energy Revolution, Trump Notwithstanding

 

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-windmill-414837/

Donald Trump’s jettisoning of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and his drill baby drill directive notwithstanding, the world must not fritter away the gains of the ongoing green energy revolution and return to the disastrous ways of the fossil fuel-powered 20th century. Fortunately, nations across the world ranging from India and China and those in the European Union realise this and have no intention of dragging the world back to the path to annihilation that the old way of doing things surely led to. As an aside, what does Elon Musk who owes his billions to the most successful EV of all time, Tesla, have to say about his favourite president’s broadside against EVs?

The green energy revolution has finally gained momentum and is close to gaining critical mass, even though the fossil fuel industry is fighting every inch of the way to remain relevant. So much so that renewable sources accounted for a creditable 30% of electricity produced globally in 2023. World-over there is an accelerated move to make the switch over to renewable sources of energy for transportation and the entire spectrum of industry and this could not have come a day sooner. What is great about renewable energy is that it is often locally sourced relying on naturally available resources like the sun, wind, surf, and geothermal energy, inuring it to the geopolitical shocks in the shape of wars, the cartelisation of oil supply and so on that has an oversized impact on fossil fuel prices, as recent events have shown us.

While the US may be self-sufficient in securing its energy needs and can possibly afford to be cavalier (a risky approach as the California fires have shown) about environmental concerns, this is not true of the rest of the world. Most nations of the world need to become energy self-sufficient and not be forever dependent on the price of a barrel of polluting oil. If ever there was a time to escape from the tyranny of fossil fuels- now is the time.