Energy sovereignty is the new security

Woochong Um, CEO of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet 

In today’s geopolitics, one would be forgiven for taking as fact that oil is power, and countries’ fortunes can rise or fall overnight based on access to supply and who strikes the deal.  

But as PM Keir Starmer visits China – home to 80% of the world’s solar manufacturing supply chain – there is another story to tell. 

Clean power is now cheaper and more scalable than ever.

Emerging economies seeking energy security and stability should prioritize home-grown clean energy over imported fossil fuel dependence.

As the former Managing Director General at the Asian Development Bank, I have seen how geopolitical shocks rapidly cascade through energy systems, worldwide. During the Iraq War and again in 2008, oil price spikes hit Asian countries almost immediately. Energy and transportation costs rocketed, straining public finances as governments turned to subsidies to keep economies moving.    

Today we face shocks on multiple fronts. The war in Ukraine is one stark example. It has driven oil price volatility and shown how centralized supply chains and vulnerable infrastructure can undermine national resilience overnight.

For political leaders across the developing world, whether in an oil rich nation like Venezuela or a fossil fuel importer at the mercy of aging, fossil fuel dependent grids and price and supply chain volatility, the outlook could feel stark.

But our energy landscape is very different from twenty years ago.   

The cost of utility scale solar has fallen around 90%. In Africa, where 600 million people still live without energy access, solar is rapidly becoming one of the most affordable and scalable sources of electricity. Renewables are now the cheapest source of new power in most markets and clean electricity is being deployed at a speed and scale that would have been inconceivable two decades ago.  

Granted, clean energy comes with its own risks, from critical minerals to processing and supply of components. Diversification, recycling and building domestic and regional capabilities can mitigate some of these risks. And none of them indicate that a retreat to outdated, fossil fuel-powered grids is the better pathway to an abundant, energy secure future.

Emerging economies are wide awake to clean energy’s new opportunities. Venezuela’s neighbours, Brazil and Chile are both advancing clean energy investments. Countries across Africa and Asia are exploring integrated mini grids and battery storage to reinforce energy grids. 

Global energy shocks have led to temporary spikes in clean energy investments before. The 1973 oil shock helped catalyse modern innovation and investment in alternatives, including solar and wind. Following the financial crisis in 2008, wind scaled rapidly, including record build years in some markets, even though tighter capital later slowed momentum.

But this is no flash-in-the-pan moment. I lead a 50-member alliance of governments, philanthropies and businesses committed to ending energy poverty and accelerating green economic growth. I speak daily with leaders from Nairobi to New Delhi and beyond, who are also actively scaling up clean energy.

In Africa, as part of the Mission 300 initiative of the World Bank and African Development Bank, 29 countries have signed national energy compacts, committing themselves to the necessary policies and reforms to attract investment that will scale up energy access. For many, renewables will be the fastest, lowest-cost option.

Governments are motivated, as we all should be, by the urgent need to tackle climate change, meet net-zero goals, and build climate resilience. 2024’s record heat waves, which spiked electricity demand and knocked out power supplies across Europe and beyond, and this winter’s storms in the US that have led to long outages, show how climate change threatens businesses, services, food supplies and families’ safety in both developed and emerging economies.

But beyond climate change, governments are also deeply aware of a simple fact: Clean energy represents the clearest route to an abundant, affordable and more secure future.

It is time to decouple economic stability from dependence on expensive, polluting diesel generators or outdated, unreliable fossil fuel-powered grids. Today’s resilience and security is found in diversified energy systems based on affordable, domestically produced clean power.