Last Updated on: 8th August 2025, 08:07 am
Smart economics is the driving factor for global renewable adoption. That is the argument behind a recent speech titled “A Moment of Opportunity” from UN Secretary General António Guterres. Describing how “we are on the cusp of a new era” of powering our lives, Guterres celebrates how the precipitous drop in the cost of renewables has supported sector expansion. It’s to the point that renewables now almost match fossil fuels in terms of global installed power capacity.
That is good news. But Guterres is also darkly pragmatic, reminding us that “the headlines are dominated by a world in trouble. By conflict and climate chaos. By rising human suffering. By growing geopolitical divides.” Fossil fuels have the benefit of a 9-to-1 advantage in consumption subsidies globally — “a clear market distortion. Add to that the unaccounted costs of climate damages on people and planet — and the distortion is even greater,” he asserts.
Yet this turmoil doesn’t have to continue, he explains, for the human history of harnessing energy is being rewritten — “and its implications will be profound.” With the power of the sun, a new age of clean energy is upon us, and “fossil fuels are running out of road,” as the “cost competitiveness of renewables is today’s reality.”
Acknowledging that the energy transformation “is fundamentally about energy security and people’s security,” Guterres introduces the primary reason that the world has begun to embrace clean energy. “It’s about smart economics.”
To illustrate how “we have passed the point of no return,” Guterres lists “three powerful reasons” why our clean energy future is not just a promise. “It’s a fact.”
Market economics.
The decades where emissions and economic growth rose together are no longer. “In many advanced economies, emissions have peaked, but growth continues,” Guterres points out.
The cost of renewable energy technologies has fallen over the past decade, with 96% of new solar and wind now costing less than new coal and gas plants.
The global average cost of solar PV has fallen to $0.043 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and onshore wind to $0.034/kWh.
In 2023 alone, clean energy sectors drove 10% of global GDP growth. That means India: 5%. US: 6%. China: 20%. EU: 33%.
Clean energy sector jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs — employing almost 35 million people worldwide.
Texas — the heart of the American fossil fuel industry — now leads the US in renewables because it makes economic sense.
The 582 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity added to the global energy system in 2024 helped avoid fossil-fuel use valued at about $57 billion, with further cost savings expected as the sector continues to grow.
“Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies — they are sabotaging them,” Guterres insists. “Driving up costs. Undermining competitiveness. Locking-in stranded assets. And missing the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
Energy security and sovereignty.
Guterres describes how renewables mean “real energy security. Real energy sovereignty. And real freedom from fossil-fuel volatility.”
Long-term cost reductions are expected to continue, as further technological lessons are learned and supply chains mature.
Renewable energy capacity has increased significantly over the past decade, growing by around 2,600GW, or 140%, between 2015 and 2024.
In 2024 alone, renewables made up 92.5% of all new electricity capacity additions, as well as 74% of electricity generation growth.
The number of jobs in the clean energy sector has also continued to grow, reaching 34.8 million in 2023, of which 16,2000 were in the renewables sector.
The clean energy sector added $320 billion to the global economy, or 10% of GDP growth globally.
“Let’s be clear: The greatest threat to energy security today is in fossil fuels,” Guterres insists.
Easy access.
“Renewables can put power — literally and figuratively,” Guterres outlines, “in the hands of people and governments.”
The share of global installed capacity is now nearly a 1:1 ratio between fossil fuels and renewables.
Around 74% of the global population lives in a country that is a net importer of fossil fuels, leaving them vulnerable when oil and gas prices surge.
In 2024, renewable energy helped “avoid” $467 billion in fossil fuel costs globally.
In the US, during that time, 93% of new generating capacity came from solar, wind, and an ever-increasing variety of batteries to store that power.
“You can’t build a coal plant in someone’s backyard,” he instructs. “But you can deliver solar panels to the most remote village on earth. Solar and wind can be deployed faster, cheaper and more flexibly than fossil fuels ever could.”
Final Thoughts about the Smart Economics of Renewables
In his speech, Guterres implores, “We must drastically speed up the reduction of emissions — and the reach of the clean energy transition” to reach these goals, as the “1.5 C limit is in unprecedented peril.”
After generating 50.5% of US utility-supplied electricity in March, clean energy sources accounted for 50.8% of electricity in April. As our CleanTechnica colleague, Steve Hanley, writes, “US solar power continues to grow as storm clouds gather.” For the smart economics of renewables to resonate in the US, the federal government needs to awaken to the power and pledge of clean energy.
Increased national productivity is a key ingredient of sustained growth. Nonetheless, while promising an all-of-the-above energy mix, Trump and his merry pranksters have done everything in their power to halt the exponential rise of solar and wind energy projects. No longer can or should convoluted diatribes that prop up fossil fuel profits reign. Researchers have projected the percentage that clean energy can power the grid over the next decade or so, and the numbers are impressive.
Coal power is declining fast, and will continue to do so, with 24,373 MW set to retire in the next three years. Another theory — that renewables should serve as a transition solution toward expanding natural gas generation — is absurd and needs to be deconstructed every time it is uttered.
On the other hand, despite a renewed effort to prop up the shrinking US coal industry, renewable energy projects keep on attracting global energy investors.
Climate activist and author of a new book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, Bill McKibben reminds us in the US, “We live on a planet where, all of a sudden, the cheapest way to make energy is to point a sheet of glass at the sun.” It’s time to listen to McKibben, Gutteres, and others who are revealing the reality of clean energy for our future.
Want more renewable energy achievement sources? International Renewable Energy Agency and United Nations and Carbon Brief
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