Geopolitics around The annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

The annual World Economic Forum has started in Davos, (WEF) in the Swiss Alps where 65 world leaders are present, including US president Donald Trump, President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Merz, and He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China.

This year’s conference takes place amidst rising tensions over US threats to acquire Greenland, the capture of Maduro in Venezuela, and instability in Iran. Simultaneously financial markets are on guard following attacks against US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell.

The seismic shifts are now underway in global energy. For the past century, global power has been shaped by control of energy. Churchill’s decision to shift the British navy from coal to oil Since Fueling a ship with oil could be done quicker and with far fewer men ,was based on this only. To achieve this Winston Churchill’s 1914 decision to acquire a controlling 51% stake in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now BP) was a, defining moment in 20th-century geopolitical energy strategy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine again triggered the biggest upheaval in Europe’s energy system in this century. While the US is pursuing an oil-first policy, electrotech – solar, wind, batteries and electrified transport, heating and industry – is now the dominant engine of energy growth in much of the world.

The IEA estimates that last year saw $2.2 trillion invested in clean technologies compared to about $1.1 trillion for oil, gas, and coal. Amid the geopolitical and economic uncertainties that are clouding the outlook for the energy world, we see energy security coming through as a key driver of the growth in global investment this year to a record $3.3 trillion as countries and companies seek to insulate themselves from a wide range of risks,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol on the release of IEA’s annual World Energy Investment report.

“The fast-evolving economic and trade picture means that some investors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to new energy project approvals, but in most areas we have yet to see significant implications for existing projects.” Globally, spending on low-emissions power generation has almost doubled over the past five years, led by solar PV. Investment in solar, both utility-scale and rooftop, is expected to reach $450 billion in 2025, making it the single largest item in the global energy investment inventory. Battery storage investments are also climbing rapidly, surging above $65 billion this year. “When the IEA published the first ever edition of its World Energy Investment report nearly ten years ago, it showed energy investment in China in 2015 just edging ahead of that of the United States,” Dr Birol added. Now China cements its position as the world’s single largest investor in energy.

Some energy experts argue that despite US efforts to push a fossil fuel agenda the huge shifts in clean energy are unlikely to reverse with events in Iran and Venezuela likely to push countries across the world to electrify even faster. A recent analysis by 350.org and Zero Carbon Analytics found that 81% of global oil reserves and 68% of global oil production now sit in the US (aspirational) sphere of influence. Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. Trump warned that “between immigration and energy – if they don’t change, bad things will happen to them”. He said: “The United Kingdom produces just one-third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999 – think of that, one-third – and they’re sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world, but they don’t use it, and that’s one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels, with equally high prices.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy