Navigating the Energy Transition

Photo-rich magazine version coming soon. 

This article will appear in the Winter 2023 issue.

By Markham Hislop

“Over 50% of all our CO₂ emissions have occurred since 1990, and a third since 2005. Global emissions will continue to rise on current policies. All we hear from our so-called leaders is ‘blah blah blah.” — Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, October 16^th, 2021

As Ms. Thunberg asks over and over, why don’t we just get on with the job? Don’t we already have enough clean energy technologies (wind, solar, batteries, electric vehicles, heat pumps, etc.)? Given the stakes — intensifying climate-related emergencies, rising energy costs, future prosperity at risk — it shouldn’t be this hard, right?

A broad answer to those questions has two parts.

One, it is this hard. In fact, much, much harder than most of us realize. For wealthy nations like Canada and the United States, the current global energy system powers a comfortable lifestyle at an affordable price — a lifestyle that middle-income and developing nations aspire to, which often leads them to invest in the lowest-cost energy, like coal. But that energy system is a gargantuan machine with an infinite number of moving parts. Deliberately transforming it in a timely fashion without unduly raising costs on families and businesses is a herculean task. For developing economies, both government support and capital are less available, making the energy transition even more difficult.