The Econmist - USA (2021-11-06)

AsworldleadersgatherinGlasgow
tocommittourgentglobalclimate
actionandbuildbackbetter,the
sizeoftheeconomicopportunity
fromthecleanenergytransition
is becomingclearerthanever.

All 197 countrieshavepledgedto
pursueeffortstowardslimitingglobal
temperatureriseto1.5°Cabovepre-
industriallevels,thehallmarkofthe
2015 ParisAgreement.Thisincludesthe
firstever‘net-zeroG7’,a historicsetof
commitmentssecuredundertheUK’s
Presidency.Manyofthesecommitments
areinlegislation- addingtothe 2368
climatelawsalreadyonthestatutebooks.^1

Bolsteringthesegovernment
commitmentstherearenowover
4470 companiesand 250 financial
institutionsintheUnitedNations’Race
toZero.Together,business,investorand
governmentalnet-zerocommitments
coveraround80%ofglobalGDP^2 ,
affirmingtherehasneverbeena stronger
andclearersignalofpublicandprivate
supporttophaseoutfossilfueluse.

Energyaccountsforaroundthreequarters
ofglobalemissions,whichmeansthat
internationalactionstokeep1.5degrees
alivehavethepotentialtodrivea clean
energytransitionwhichis unprecedented
inscaleandopportunity.Economist
Impactcalculatesthat1.5°Ccompatible
investmentsintosectorsincluding
cleanpowergeneration,electricity
grids,electrifiedroadtransport,green
steelmaking,andcleanhydrogen,could
supportmorethan 20 millionjobsandadd
around4%toGDPgloballyby2030.The
marketsexpectedtogrowmostquickly
andattractmostinvestmentarethose

withclear,ambitiousandsupportive

policies,suchastheEU,USandChile.

Net-zeropowerintheUSrepresentsa

$1.5trillion-dollarinvestmentto 2030

withtheprospectofcreatingovera

millionjobs.A cleanUKpowersector

standstogainhundredsofthousandsof

jobs,whileadding2.4%toGDPby2030.

ResearchfromtheEconomicsofEnergy

InnovationandSystemTransitionproject

estimatesthatgovernmentprogrammes

havedrivencostreductionsof85%in

PVgloballyandforLEDsinIndia.^3

AshostsofCOP26,theUKhasbeen

drivinginternationalcollaborationto

multiplythegrowthofcleanenergy

markets,jobsandGDP.Government

backedcollaborationssuchastheEnergy

TransitionCouncil,PoweringPastCoal

Alliance,GreenGridsInitiative-One

SunOneWorldOneGridandtheZero

EmissionsVehicleTransitionCouncilare

co-creatingtransformativesolutions,

agreeingsharedtargetsandfacilitating

theglobaltransferoftechnologyand

knowledge.AnOxfordUniversitystudy

estimatesthecostsofcleanenergy

technologiescouldbeupto45%cheaper

in 2030 if weworktogethertodeploy

themquickly.^4 TheInternationalEnergy

Agencyfoundthatwithoutinternational

collaboration,thetransitiontonet-

zerocouldbedelayedbydecades.^5

Byaligningourefforts,wecanquickly

crosstippingpointswhereclean

solutionsbecomethemostaffordable,

accessibleandattractiveoptionsineach

greenhouse-gasemittingsectorofthe

globaleconomy- helpingtomeetthe

SustainableDevelopmentGoals,aswell

asavoidingdangerousclimatechange.

ADVERTISEMENT

SIZING THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Less pollution, more jobs

Cleanpowersector

Electrifiedroadtransportation

Greensteel

Cleanhydrogen

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SELECT SECTORS

BY 2030 IN A NET-ZERO PATHWAY

Learnmore:
https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/sizing-the-energy-transition

$15.4tn

investment

$127bn

investment

$1.1tn

investment

$189bn

investment

$6.5tn

addedGDPvalue

$59bn

addedGDPvalue

$462bn

addedGDPvalue

$80bn

addedGDPvalue

13.8m

newjobs

1.3m

newjobs

6.6m

newjobs

99k

newjobs

Italy UK China

US Canada Germany

India Rest of the world

France

Japan

SouthAfrica

0 20 40 60 80 100

0 20 40 60 80 100

0 20 40 60 80 100

0 20 40 60 80 100

Investment distribution by 2030, %

1 https://climate-laws.org
2 https://www.zerotracker.net
3 https://eeist.co.uk
4 https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/publications/no-2021-01-empirically-grounded-technology-forecasts-and-the-energy-transition
5 https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

SPONSORED BY

The Energy Transition Council,

Rapid Response Facility