Abstract

September 2025, Paper: "High interest rates, trade tensions, and energy geopolitics have coincided with an about face on climate policy in the United States, raising questions about the future of the global energy transition. This paper examines the implications of these developments for momentum to deploy technologies aligned with deep decarbonization across industries around the world. Enablers of deep decarboniza­tion are now more differentiated across industries. Installed costs of clean technologies are achieving parity with incumbents in some industries, while in others deployment faces formidable capital and operating cost hurdles or supply chain security concerns. While dedicated climate policy support remains important, sustaining momentum will require attention to the broader institutional enablers of energy transition. Addressing bottlenecks in the construction of new energy infrastructure, build­ing trust in supply chain relationships, and increasing availability of low-cost sources of financing for energy and infrastructure projects are hypothesized as no-regret strategies for addressing near-term development needs while increasing the likelihood and potential of future opportunities to increase climate ambition."

Citations

Valerie Karplus. “Sustaining the global energy transition.” Discussion paper. September 2025. https://www.belfercenter.org/research-analysis/sustaining-global-energy-transition