It was a great honor for me to observe the United Nations General Assembly informal interactive dialogue on Accelerating the global energy transition. President Annalena Baerbock led the discussion emphasizing that while the transition to renewable energy is happening at an unprecedented speed it is important to ensure that this transition is fair [1].
Her statement was backed by numbers. Renewable energy deployment has been rapid but it has also been concentrated in few prosperous countries. Nearly 80 % of new RE capacity was built in China,EU & the USA while Africa accounted for a meager 1.6%.
Amid the optimism surrounding RE we often tend to forget that what truly enables RE at scale is massive industrial capacity. This is clear if we trace the supply chain of solar panels,wind turbines ,magnets and EV. Meanwhile people who need energy the most have no access to either renewable or fossil based power. Nearly 565 Million people in subsaharan Africa lack access to electrical energy [2].
If even basic requirements are not met building an industrial capacity is really a farfetched idea at this stage. Optimistic? yes. Hopeful? Yes indeed. But truly delusional.
I’m not denying that motivations behind the push for renewable energy are noble and perhaps even magnanimous but these motivations can't overcome the economic asymmetry that separates the developed and the developing world.
RE infrastructure requires cutting edge manufacturing. Technical composites. Rare earth magnets. Silicon production. Clean rooms ,Chemicals. Those who have access to these technologies grow and use developing nations as a market or entangle them in a complex web of loans to accelerate their own growth. Many political commentators have termed this phenomenon as neo-colonialism.
The two big problems with this model are first it prevents the nations from using their own mineral wealth because it doesn't meet the climate agenda that is set by the nations who have an industrial advantage.
The second problem is that many of these nations outright refuse to share industrial technology leading many economic scholars to ask a very cutting question: is the rhetoric of climate change just a tool to fuel the growth of the west just as historical events like the Berlin conference did earlier?
Many of these agreements, whether the one in Paris or in Copenhagen or elsewhere, sound very very similar to what happened at the Berlin conference 141 years ago when EU powers unleashed a scramble for Africa. A new scramble has been unleashed. For resources ,land and moral superiority.
Now if we turn the pages of history and ask a simple question who was it that decided it would be a good idea to build an industry on fossil fuels we will find that the answer points fingers to private industries working hand in glove with public officials.
And when we compare those events to these ‘agreements’ and ask ourselves who are the people building this narrative? We find that once more it's the handful of elites in the public and private sectors. Frankly what needs to be talked about is how nations in EU are going to compensate Africa for years of slave trade and colonial plunder before the agenda of RE even reaches negotiating table.
Nations in Africa must use every last atom of their natural resources to push for self reliance. Without that one thing is certain that it will be more humiliation, no one knows for how many millennia.
The calls for electrification are good but technically speaking the debate that electrification is the only road for prosperity or that it's essential for modern living is not yet decidedly settled.
Except for electronics and communications all of other modern technologies can be powered mechanically just as well. And what's more there is a quiet resurgence in mechanics of late that might very well be the leading driver of electrification too.
I have addressed this issue in my article electrical and mechanical work where I argue that mechanical science can not be ignored and has the possibility of playing a very important role in enabling renewable energy at scale[3].
Even oil and gas that is fossilized at this time ,can be generated with RE using Fischer Tropsch processes allowing us to preserve the infrastructure that we have created as we move to attain our vision of RE.
The truly just transition will not close a sector that employs millions of people around the world,a sector that is responsible for the prosperity that we enjoy today. But rather would seek to transform it into a clean industry. Unfortunately many of the advocates of RE use every opportunity they get to antagonise oil and gas and malign its reputation. It doesn't have to be this way.
Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to participate in Relx SDG inspiration day where the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Ban Ki-moon emphasised the need for innovative financial models to accelerate RE transition. The profits from the Oil and gas sector could help build those financial mechanisms. Hydrogen extracted from hydrocarbons could provide a stop gap solution to cleaner fuels as industry builds capacity for large scale renewable hydrogen production. And the residual carbon could be used to set up a Carbon composites industry that can serve as the material platform for the future.
The United Nations ,IRENA are diplomatic forums and while they do have capable political leadership they often lack the technological depth to make an assessment on how their goals could be achieved. The incredible work that they have done can't be denied. Through their tenacity they have injected sustainability in political discourse. This is no small feat. But new kinds of organisation will have to be developed that can actually deliver on those grand visions. Otherwise asymmetry will persist.
Institutionally there are other challenges. President Annalena Baerbock departs the UN soon as does SG Guterres. President Annalena has been one of the fiercest voices of sustainability and General Guterres and ensured that equity and justice remain cornerstones of every political decision that the UN makes. Soon there will be new leaders and they will inherit institutions that have now been infected with profiteering lobbyists groups. They'll need supreme strength to turn around the UN. The world can't depend upon such a leadership to materialize.
Pragmatic choices need to be made now. It is therefore essential to build organisations that can work on a local level with informal international partnerships enabling decentralised ,distributed execution and capability building to lay down the seeds for a sustainable industrial revolution that will be necessary to achieve our objectives.
On a personal note this has been another fruitful discussion, one of many this year that started with Bharat climate forum in January followed by Delhi climate week, numerous engagements with society for automotive engineers and African solar alliance. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with leaders from industry ,academia and government institutions.
Thank you for your attention.
REFERENCES
1 Statement By UNGA president Annalena Baerbock
https://www.un.org/pga/80/2026/07/24/interactive-dialogue-accelerating-the-global-energy-transition-advancing-renewables-energy-efficiency-and-international-cooperation/
2 655 Million People Still Without Electricity Underscore Urgent Need to Deliver Universal Energy Access
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/06/16/accelerating-universal-energy-access
3 Electrical and mechanical work
https://akshatjiwannotes.blogspot.com/2024/11/electrical-and-mechanical-work.html
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