Wind’s doldrums are a clue to energy’s trade-war future

IF YOU want a vision of where attempts to clean up the world’s power grids would be without the transformative effects of trade, look to the wind industry.

In the areas of clean energy where international commerce is most viable, there has been breakneck growth in recent years. Solar electricity generation and the number of electric vehicles on the roads will both be about 60 per cent higher in 2025 than the International Energy Agency (IEA) expected as recently as 2020. That’s enough to put the world well on the way to net zero.

It’s no coincidence, however, that these same sectors are also the most vulnerable to fears about geopolitical competition and tariff barriers. Dependence on supply chains centred in China has dismayed those who see that country’s growing wealth as a global threat greater than climate change itself.