US-China trade war and climate of protectionism are holding back needed investment in renewable energy

Trade wars, tariffs and mutual suspicion are impacting global investments in the power sector, at a time when the world is racing to reduce carbon emissions to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius

Reading Time:3 minutes

The Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm on the Burbo Flats in Liverpool Bay, England, is seen from a plane window. Renewables like wind and solar power can dramatically reduce – by as much as 50 per cent – the carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 2030. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00pm, 24 Oct 2019Updated: 12:54am, 25 Oct 2019

Whether in Beijing or Washington, the continued reminders of global warming make it vital to decarbonise our economies and move to renewable energy. But, just as we are making great strides in building a strong renewables sector, our progress is being threatened by trade wars.

The world’s energy system is at a critical point. The difference between an increase in global warming of 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius (34.7 and 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050 is equivalent to hundreds of millions more lives exposed to poverty, extreme heat, drought and mortal risks. Wind power and other renewables will need to supply 70-85 per cent of the world’s electricity by 2050 to avoid these worst-case scenarios, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

To achieve the 1.5-degree target, the IPCC has called for an unprecedented scaling-up of global energy investment, with investment in renewable energy to increase annually to US$2.4 trillion through to 2035.

A trade war which slows economic growth and erects barriers to investment not only hurts the business of clean energy, it also handicaps the global effort to preserve our planet.

China and the US are positioned to lead the global charge to install onshore wind power over the next five years. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, both countries will install almost half of the 330 gigawatts of new wind power capacity worldwide by 2023.

This is good news: renewables like wind and solar power can dramatically reduce – by as much as 50 per cent – the carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 2030. But tariff battles between the world’s two largest economies are hindering the deployment of these technologies.