Simon Stiell tells investors in NYC that rich countries are benefiting most from clean energy growth while poorer nations are deprived of finance for cheaper renewables A solar microgrid run by Husk Power Systems serves Kiguna village in Nasarawa state, Nigeria, September 26, 2022 (Photo: Megan Rowling) Some economies are starting to see dividends from the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing each year into clean energy around the world – but progress is uneven, with richer countries reaping most of the benefits and poorer ones held back, the United Nations’ climate chief said on Tuesday. Simon Stiell told investors at an event in New York that the efforts of many developing countries to adopt more renewables like solar and wind power “are hamstrung by sky-high costs of capital… or mired in spiralling debt crises”. Because the “mega-trend” in clean energy is occurring unevenly, most investors are missing out on “gigantic, unrealised opportunities” outside of wealthy countries, he added, warning that this also poses a major threat to global action to curb climate change and avoid its worst impacts. “I’ll be blunt: if more developing economies don’t see more of this growing deluge of climate investment, we will quickly entrench a dangerous two-speed global transition,” Stiell said. UN climate chief calls for “exponential changes” to boost investment in Africa Such an imbalance is both “unacceptable” and “self-defeating” for all economies, he emphasised. It would make halving global emissions by 2030 to keep warming in check “near impossible”, he explained, as well as causing havoc in international supply chains as extreme weather bites. The disruptions experienced by businesses during the COVID19 pandemic “will seem like a minor hiccup compared to what an unchecked climate crisis will inflict” in an interdependent world economy, Stiell warned. “If a two-speed global transition sets […]
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