The energy crisis and how it could be resolved through the clean energy transition were in the spotlight at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, held in Davos from January 16-20. World leaders discussed everything from net-zero energy technologies and battery passports to how food, energy and climate are interconnected.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “The global energy crisis has accelerated the shift to renewables, with capacity expected to double in the next five years. However, according to IEA chief Fatih Birol, “it is not the climate crisis that is primarily driving the clean energy transition, the biggest driver of renewable energy growth today is energy security.” .
The literature on energy security is abundant. The documents on energy prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), developed a study to address the definition of Energy Security. “Energy security is the capacity of a country to satisfy the national demand for energy with sufficiency, opportunity, sustainability and adequate prices, in the present and towards the future, which is usually measured by decades and decades rather than by years”. With sustainability and affordability they complete the three dimensions of a daunting and very complex task.
In Davos the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, spoke of a new Deutschland-Geschwindigkeit, a new “German speed”. Germany has become “completely independent of Russian gas, Russian oil and Russian coal” in a few months. Despite threats warning of the harshness of winter due to the political and energy crisis in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war, Germany has had a secure winter energy supply.
In less than seven months, Germany has built new terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which may be used for hydrogen in the future. The last 12 months have shown business leaders, climate activists, security policy specialists and investors that “the future belongs solely to renewable energies”. In the energy panel, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, concluded by highlighting: “For cost reasons, for environmental reasons, for safety reasons and because, in the long run, renewable energies promise the best returns, by 2030, 80% of Germany’s electricity production will come from renewable sources, double the current volume”.
According to Úrsula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, “In less than three decades we have to reach net zero, but reaching net zero means developing and using a wide range of new clean technologies throughout our economy. In transportation, buildings, manufacturing and energy”
The energy transition is an accelerating trend, which shares space with energy security and its socioeconomic variables, which require million-dollar investments and technological management. For Colombia, these imponderables require saying what is necessary and mastering the language, so that when making decisions it is not more harmful to say nonsense than to commit it.
By Luis Elquis Diaz