Countries in the race for the energy transition

The race for energy transition is on the rise all over the world. But it is certain that some countries are already one (or more) steps ahead in this direction.

According to data from the Report on the Global Situation of Renewables for 2020, of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), “renewable energy grew three times faster than fossil and nuclear fuels in a period of five years, but was responsible for less than a third of the increase in total final energy demand ”. According to the 2019 version, global investment in green energy has been greater than $ 2.6 trillion over the past ten years. In other words, more gigawatts of capacity were installed using solar energy than any other form of generation.

The great powers, of course, have an advantage in this race, as they have greater infrastructure and resources to invest in renewable energy, such as the United States, Japan and Spain. But, the curious thing is that, in addition to these, some emerging countries have been standing out in the adoption of renewable energies, focusing on solar photovoltaic generation, and this strategic choice may make them important global energy suppliers in the near future.

With that in mind, I have listed here the emerging countries that are emerging in the race for the energy transition:

1- China

According to the same report already cited from the United Nations Environment Program, China was the country that most invested in clean energy in the last decade, corresponding to US $ 758 billion in investments between 2010 and 2019.

This demonstrates the importance that the country sees in renewable energies for the future. China is already one of the world's largest producers and exporters of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles, among other inputs for clean generation. In addition, the country has cutting-edge technology at low cost, which facilitates the development and installation of robust structures.

2- India 

Still according to the report, India is the fourth largest renewable energy market, behind China, the United States and Japan. In Asia, the country was the second largest in installed renewable energy capacity and investment in 2018 and is making a joint effort to increase this. Data from the same report show that around 35% of the energy produced in the country comes from renewable sources today.

Like China, India has high levels of pollution, which further increases the concern for sustainability and pressures for the use of clean energy.

3- Brazil

Nowadays, Brazil occupies the third place among the countries with the greatest capacity for generating renewable energy, taking into account the generation by hydroelectric plants, second only to China and the United States.

In 2020, the country obtained approximately R$13 billion in investments and has an increasing demand for energy, taking into account its territorial extension. In addition, climatic conditions are extremely favorable and tax incentives and private investments are strongly promoting the country's market, with a focus on photovoltaic solar energy.

4- Chile

Chile is another emerging country that has been growing in its participation in the solar market. In this year of 2021, fossil fuel generation was overtaken by renewable sources. During the month of November 2020, clean sources represented 50.3% of the total 25,997 MW of the capacity of the national electricity system, among them 13,081 MW from renewable sources.

In addition to being committed since 2018 to the decarbonization and diversification of the energy matrix, stipulating the goal of cleaning the matrix 100% by 2050, Chile has very favorable climatic conditions for solar generation, a high incidence of sun almost every day of the year, being very attractive for national and international investors.

5- Vietnam

Vietnam is another country that has stood out. Until then, the country was totally dependent on coal, but this past year has seen a 25-fold increase in its solar capacity in just one year.

According to the World Economic Forum, "incentives for homes and businesses to install solar panels on roofs have led to the boom". A little similar to what happened in Brazil in the last three years.

Also according to the WEF article, one of the main characteristics for the increase was the incentives with a generous tariff for solar energy users to sell surplus energy to the national electricity grid at a guaranteed price for 20 years. At the same time, the government has made changes to its laws related to public-private partnerships, discouraging coal generation.

Taking this list into account, we can see some similarities between the countries listed: favorable climatic factors and strong fiscal and legislative incentives.

Another important report is the “Renewables in cities 2019” which brings an interesting analysis from the perspective of the equality that clean energy generation helps to achieve. "Renewable energies are a central solution to tackling energy poverty in cities, especially as technology costs decrease and in combination with measures to promote energy efficiency and accessibility".

But it is certain that Europe is still today the great leader, in continental terms, in ESG investments. About US $ 30 trillion in investments, worldwide, already meet these criteria.