We need to forge our own paths for a sensible energy transition

Developing countries taking climate action should watch out for the costs that a rushed transition to renewables may impose

- V. ANANTHA NAGESWARAN & BJORN LOMBORG

Abundant, reliable and cheap energy was the lifeblood that powered the Industrial Revolution and enabled the development of today’s rich nations. Most of us take it for granted, but in a world without plentiful energy, you wouldn’t be able to heat or cool your house, prepare your food, keep it fresh, get to work, use phones, computers or entertainment systems. Less obvious but even more importantly, most global systems meeting our basic needs would falter. Agriculture would falter because more than half the world is fed by synthetic fertilizers made from gas; industry creates millions of tools and wonders that sustain life, from pharmaceuticals to plastics; and as infrastructure is built with steel and cement, the globally integrated transportation network is entirely dependent on asphalt, trucks and container ships.

This is why there is such a close connection between more energy and higher incomes. No nation has ever gotten rich without a constant and immense flow of energy. Not surprisingly, the rest of the world wants that too.

Humanity has transitioned from dirty and inefficient fuels like wood to still dirty but less inefficient coal, and onward to oil and gas. These transitions took half a century each and were mostly driven by the reality that new fuels were more efficient and cheaper than older alternatives. Now that the world faces the challenge of climate change, many are pushing for an ultra-rapid transition over just a few decades from fossil fuels to clean energy, which is mostly seen as renewables.